After lull, Maratha stir flares up again

After a brief lull, various Maratha outfits once again looked to spark their agitation for reservations into life with violent protests in western Maharashtra on Monday.

As protestors resorted to violence and arson at various places, police were forced to fire teargas shells in the air and carry out a lathicharge in Chakan to quell the protests.

Chakan, 40 kilometres from Pune, saw the most violence with protestors attacking a police station and damaging at least 100 vehicles.

The Pune-Nashik highway near Khed was also blocked by protestors for more than four hours. This happened despite leaders from the Maratha outfits appealing to the community members not to indulge in violence.

Inspector general (Kolhapur range) Vishwas Nagre Patil, said, “Most violence occurred in Chakan and Khed-Rajgurunagar areas where around 30 vehicles were torched. The situation is now under control.”

The community has been protesting across the state for 10 days now, demanding reservations in government jobs and education.

First Published: Jul 31, 2018 00:54 IST