Date:05/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/05/stories/2006100510450300.htm

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Karnataka - Belgaum

Bandh near total in Belgaum

Staff Correspondent

Many injured in clashes, stone-throwing in the district

Attendance was thin in government offices Bank transactions were affected

Medical shops and hospitals functioned as usual

QUELLING REBELLION: The police trying to remove protesters during the bandh in Belgaum on Wednesday.

Belgaum: The Karnataka bandh called by the Border Agitation Committee was near-total in the district on Wednesday.

Barring minor incidents of stone-throwing and group clashes in some areas in the city, the bandh passed off peacefully.

T.G. Doreswamy, Inspector-General of Police, told The Hindu that the bandh was near-total and had passed off peacefully in all the seven districts coming under the North (Western) range.

The police had taken elaborate precautionary measures to avert any untoward incident. In addition to the regular forces in the district, eight platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police and 20 platoons of District Armed Reserve were pressed into service.

Nearly five persons suffered head injuries and over 20 minor injuries in stone-throwing and clashes between Kannada and Marathi- speaking groups.

All schools, colleges, markets, cinemas, private banks, hotels and bars and restaurants remained closed. Autorickshaws remained off the roads.

The North-west Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation services, which were suspended, were resumed later in the evening.

Attendance was quite thin in government offices and business was affected in the national banks. Essential services and medical shops, hospitals/clinics functioned as usual.

Trouble started when a group led by district convener of Kannada Rakshana Vedike Deepak Jamkhandi allegedly forced closure of a bank run by Marathi-speaking promoters near Shivaji Garden in Shahpur. The bank staff refused to oblige even after the request of Superintendent of Police Hemant Nimbalkar.

Some people started throwing stones and were attacked by a larger mob. As many as 20 Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) activists were beaten up. Vinayak Dauli suffered head injury.

Even as the police dispersed the mob at Shivaji Garden, KRV activists removed the saffron flag, which is identified more with the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) in Belgaum, and installed a Kannada flag. Following this, a Marathi group clashed with the KRV members and replaced the Kannada flag with the saffron one. Two persons suffered head injury in the clashes. Senior police authorities rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.

Stone-throwing and group clashes were reported from Tahsildar Galli, Anantsen Galli, Shamaprasad Mukharjee Road, and Ganachari Galli.

Tension sparked off when a large group of KRV members entered Gondhali Galli off Sanman Circle and threw stones at Marathi name boards.

Marathi groups retaliated immediately. The KRV activists removed the saffron flag and installed the saffron flag at Sanman Circle.

MES leaders including Deepak Dalvi, Malojirao Ashtekar, the former Mayor Vijay More and Manohar Kinekar, MLA, arrived with supporters and three women protesting against the removal of the saffron flag installed on the occasion of "Durga Maata Daud" as part of Navaratri celebrations last week. The women installed the saffron flag by the side of the Kannada flag. The police did not allow them to remove the latter. The Superintendent of Police dispersed them immediately.

Later, the KRV activists led by Raju Topannavar marched to the Deputy Commissioner's Office and submitted a memorandum.