Railway stations attacked, 150 arrested in migrant violence

Oct 25, 2008, 10:01 GMT

New Delhi - More than 150 people were arrested and a dozen injured as groups clashed with the police and attacked railway stations across India's eastern state of Bihar on Saturday to protest attacks on migrants in the financial capital of Mumbai, news reports said.

Mobs of students vandalized railway stations and blocked rail and road traffic as part of a shutdown called to protest attacks by the right-wing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena party (MNS).

'Over 150 students were arrested across the state and some student leaders were also taken into custody early on Saturday. In state capital Patna alone, 25 students were arrested,' a police official told the IANS news agency.

About a dozen people were injured in clashes with police. A total of 30 people have been wounded during protests in various parts of Bihar state in the last five days.

Six criminal complaints were also filed against the MNS chief Raj Thackeray, who was arrested near Maharashtra capital Mumbai on Tuesday for inciting the attacks on migrant workers.

He was later released on bail. Among the complaints was one filed by the father by a youth who was allegedly killed by MNS activists in Mumbai.

The ideology of MNS is based on their belief that Maharashtrians are superior in race and culture to others in India and deserve more rights in the state than migrants.

On Friday, scores of slogan-shouting students blocked roads and forcibly shut down shops in Patna as well as five other districts in Bihar.

Days of widespread protests have seen angry student mobs vandalizing railways property to disrupt movement of at least 200 trains in the region.

Officials told the IANS news agency that protestors ransacked railways stations in four districts including Darbhanga and Lakhisarai to enforce the shutdown on Saturday.

Baton-wielding police charged protestors at the Darbhanga and Sheikhupura railways stations after students threw stones at them. There was heavy police deployment in Patna where most of the educational institutions were closed.

'We have deployed additional 5,000 police personnel and directed them to use force against troublemakers and not allow anyone to create violence,' senior police official Amit Kumar told the IANS.