Police detain 450 after violent Maratha protests

MUMBAI: Almost 450 people were in custody in Maharashtra on Thursday after clashes between thousands of protesters from the Maratha minority and police charging with batons and firing tear gas, officials said.

Like other communities in India the Marathas, who make up around 30 per cent of the western state’s 110 million people, want quotas or “reservations” to ensure they get jobs in the government and education.

“We have detained 447 people for their involvement in arson and stonepelting and action will be taken against them,” Deepak Deoraj, a spokesperson for Mumbai police, said a day after the clashes on Wednesday.

The protests, which began on Monday in the city of Thane and spread across the state, saw demonstrators set cars and buses on fire, throw stones at trains and block railways and two major roads.

More than 30,000 police were deployed, in places using tear gas and baton charges to disperse the crowds. Three officers were injured, police said, as well as an unknown number of demonstrators.

The protests were sparked when a Maratha community activist jumped to his death from a bridge. Another activist killed himself with poison on Wednesday, while a police officer died in clashes on Tuesday.

However more demonstrations were called off by Maratha groups late on Wednesday after state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called for talks with the community.

“We are monitoring the situation to prevent further violent incidents and have detained 20 people in the Thane region,” Sukhada Narkar, a spokesperson for Thane police, said.

The Marathas have for years been pressing for more state jobs. A rally by hundreds of thousands paralysed Mumbai last year. One bid to give them more jobs was cancelled by an Indian court in 2014.

Maharashtra is an important agricultural state but in recent years poor rains have led to crop failures.