Amravati : A four-day curfew has been imposed at Amravati amid the fresh violence during bandh, on Saturday. The internet services have also been cut down. Three protest rallies amid Tripura Violence against Muslims were being carried out at Nanded, Malegaon and Amravati districts of Maharashtra. On Friday these rallies witnessed stone pelting and violence. It was alleged that protestors pelted stones on police and damaged some shops and vehicles. In order to disperse the crowd, the police said that they had to resort to lathi charge.
Amid this incident, Dilip Walse Patil, Maharashtra’s Home Minister appealed to the people to maintain peace , reported ANI. “Muslims across the state had taken out a protest march today against the violence in Tripura. During this, stone pelting was done in Nanded, Malegaon, Amaravati and some other places. I appeal to all Hindus & Muslims to maintain peace,” the Home Minister said.
Internet services in the city will remain suspended for three days so as to prevent the spread of rumours which can fuel violence, said city Commissioner of Police Arti Singh.
The curfew, imposed earlier in the day, will remain in force for four days, she announced.
The violence on Saturday occurred during the bandh (shutdown) against Friday’s stone-pelting incidents during rallies held by Muslim organisations in various districts in protest against the Tripura communal violence. Hundreds of people, many of them holding saffron flags in their hands and raising slogans, came out on streets in the Rajkamal Chowk area of Amravati. Some members of the mob hurled stones at the shops and damaged them, prompting the police to lathicharge the protesters, an Amravati police official had said earlier in the day.
Police have so far arrested 20 people and detained four others by registering 20 FIRs under various charges, including rioting, in connection with Friday’s incidents.
In Amravati, over 8,000 people had gathered outside the district collector’s office on Friday to submit a memorandum demanding that atrocities against the minority community in Tripura be stopped.
When people were leaving after submitting the memorandum, stone-throwingg took place at three places between Chitra Chowk and Cotton Market under the limits of the Kotwali police station.
Meanwhile, launching a veiled attack on opposition BJP, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday said the violence in Amravati and other places was aimed at destabilising the MVA government.
Speaking to reporters in Aurangabad, Mr Raut said the state government is firm in the saddle and real faces of the perpetrators of violence will be exposed soon.
“Raising the bogey of violence, they (Opposition) will meet the state governor and write letters to the Union home ministry claiming that the (law and order) situation in Maharashtra is deteriorating. This will happen in the future too. But the state government is firm in the saddle,” Mr Raut said.
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