Ranchi: At least 30 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers, including a legislator, and three policemen were injured Thursday as the Jharkhand police resorted to baton charge to disperse activists protesting price rise.

This is the third time in the past week that the police have cane charged BJP workers, who are on a 12-day protest against rising prices and corruption in the state.

About 10,000 workers took out the protest march from Morabadi ground here to the chief minister's house. The police resorted to force near the governor's house as the protesters tried to break the barricades.

The BJP workers pelted stones at the police, in which three policemen were injured. To disperse the crowd the police used tear-gas shells, rubber bullets and batons.

"The police are using repressive measures on the instructions of the Madhu Koda government. We will further intensify our agitation against this corrupt and inept government," said C.P. Singh, a BJP legislator who also sustained minor injuries.

"The police are not even sparing women workers," he said. Of the 30 party workers injured, 13 are women, he added.

The agitation began May 12. Every day thousands of party workers take out a march towards the chief minister's house. The agitation is gradually turning violent as the workers try to break the barricades and the police use force to stop them.

On Wednesday, state BJP president P.N. Singh sustained head injuries in the clash and was admitted to Seva Sadan Hospital here. His condition is stable and he is out of danger, officials said.

 

Source : IANS