NEW DELHI, India, Dec.12, Reuter : Police today arrested 6,000 farmers blocking a railway track in western India to demand higher cotton prices. the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.
Hundreds of police fired tear gas to dislodge protesters squatting on two km (one mile) of mainline track near the western city of Ahmedabad and then herded them into a sports stadium, PTI said.
It was the second big farmers’ protest over cotton prices in western India in three days. On Wednesday three people were killed and 25 injured when police fired ‘on 4,000 farmers who ran riot near ‘Aurangabad in Maharashtra state.
Police also made 2,000 arrests across southern And bra Pradesh state during protests to back a 38dayold strike by government employees demanding higher pay. PTI said, It said buses were stoned and roads blocked in some districts.
In neighbouring Tamil Nadu state authorities’ tightened security in government offices after bomb blasts last night which punctuated month long student protests against the use of Hindi as India’s official language.
PTI today quoted police as saying a “bundle of crackers” exploded at installations of the state‘ owned Indian oil near Madras, capital of Tamil Nadu after mi night and an unexploded Molotov cocktail was found beside a pipeline.
‘A parcel bomb explosion at a post office south of Madras also, blew a man to pieces and injured Last night and another blast damarack.
The bombings followed the arrests of more than 17,500 people in the student protests, punctuated by sporadic violence, against the use of Hindi as India’s official Language in Tamil Nadu whose inhabitants speak an ancient and unrelated tongue.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 19, 1986
