World | India
Mumbai cabbies face the brunt of violence
Violence rocked India's financial capital, Mumbai, for the second day in a row on Monday when activists of two political parties clashed over the presence of migrant workers in the city, police said.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 23:58 February 4, 2008
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Mumbai: Violence rocked India's financial capital, Mumbai, for the second day in a row on Monday when activists of two political parties clashed over the presence of migrant workers in the city, police said.
Twenty-five people were arrested in connection with the riots.
For the second day, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers assaulted taxi drivers from North India, particularly from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and smashed their cars. Their fury was also directed at the food vendors and activists of the Samajwadi Party who had come to attend a public rally at Shivaji Park in Dadar.
The clashes were triggered by Sena chief Raj Thackeray's comments asking North Indians in the state to behave like Maharashtrians by following its culture and to desist from performing their own Chhat Puja.
The party leader also took a swipe at actor Amitabh Bachchan for focusing his charity work on his home state of Uttar Pradesh, in northern India. Bachchan works and lives in Mumbai, the capital of the western Indian state of Maharashtra.
Film-goers beaten up
Late on Sunday, two motorcyclists threw empty liquor bottles at Bachchan's house in Juhu. The actor's posters were also torn down in many parts of the city. Movie halls showing a Bhojpuri (a North Indian dialect) film in Thane and Nasik were attacked and viewers beaten up.
On Monday, the Sena workers went on a rampage after Amar Singh, General Secretary of the Samajwadi Party, filed a police complaint against Thackeray.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh assured that "stern action" would be taken against the culprits.
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