Mumbai: Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar led protest on Monday blocked the road and rail traffic in Mumbai on Elgar Morcha. Thousands of protesters demanded the arrest of Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide for his alleged connection with Bhima-Koregaon violence that erupted in January this year.
Though Mumbai police had denied the permission to conduct Elgar Morcha at Azad Maidan, Ambedkar had said that the protest march would be taken out without permission. The march started from Rani Baug at Byculla, several protesters assembled at CST and headed towards Vidhan Bhavan. Massive jams and overcrowded trains were observed on Monday morning as a result of disruption caused by protestors.
#Visuals of Elgar protest march at Mumbai's Azad Maidan demanding the arrest of Sambhaji Bhide in the Bhima-Koregaon violence case. pic.twitter.com/jXkTGTvyOW
— ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2018
“The state government informed us about denial of permission on Sunday afternoon. However, the people across the state, who want to join the march, have already left for Mumbai and now we cannot call off the protest rally,” Prakash Ambedkar was quoted as saying on Sunday. The Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh chief said denial of permission will lead to more chaos in Mumbai.
Ambedkar had served an ultimatum to Maharashtra on March 15 demanding the arrest of Bhide by March 26. He had also named another accused in the violence, Milind Ekbote, who was arrested from Pune this month.