Beed: Bandh observed to protest police action against Maratha quota agitators

Bandh was observed on Saturday in Beed, Maharashtra, in protest of police action against hunger strikers in Jalna who were demanding Maratha reservations in employment and education the day before.

On Friday, police had resorted to baton charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse a violent mob in Antarwali Sarathi on Dhule-Solapur road in Jalna’s Ambad tehsil after those at the site allegedly refused to let authorities shift a man on hunger strike to the hospital.

The shutdown called by the Maratha Kranti Morcha in Beed was mostly peaceful, though incidents of stone pelting were reported from Majalgaon, while private and state-run buses stayed off the roads, officials said. They said that in Majalgaon town, stones had been thrown at Shivaji Chowk, the new bus station, Purnawadi Bank, and a hotel close to Sambhaji Chowk. However, a top police official claimed that only one case of stone-pelting had been reported.

An official said the main protests were held at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chowk and in front of the Beed collectorate, while the shutdown also affected areas like Dharur, Ashti and Ambajogai talukas in the district. A stone-pelting incident took place in Majalgaon but there is no report of anyone getting injured, Superintendent of Police Nandkumar Thakur said.