Sena’s SEZ protest turns violent, Joshi held

They also blocked the Mumbai-Pune highway for four hours, the police said. The protestors went on the rampage after they were stopped from proceeding towards Konkan Bhavan—the administrative headquarters in CBD Belapur—and the police responded by lathi-charging them. The protestors hurled stones and damaged many vehicles, including 35 Navi Mumbai transport buses.

They also torched a BEST jeep, a bus and four motorcycles, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Navi Mumbai) Amar Jadhav. The police arrested 204 agitators.

Led by Shiv Sena’s Raigad district chief Baban Patil, Navi Mumbai city chief Dr Rajesh Patil and party leaders Prabhakar More and Anant Tare, around 4,000-5,000 farmers and Sena workers gathered at Khargar in the morning, blocking the highway. They marched towards Belapur, where Sena leader Manohar Joshi, who was later arrested and released on bail, joined them along with more protestors. As the around 10,000-strong group began proceeding towards Konkan Bhavan, the police intervened.

Sanjay Raut, Sena MP and spokesperson, said: “We support the behaviour of farmers who have not been left with any other alternative. What else do you expect them to do? In a state where the Revenue Department and industrialists unite to grab land from farmers, it is a natural reaction from the sons of the soil. The farmers have been tilling the land for generations, all of a sudden the Government tries to grab it in the name of development.”