NEW DELHI: Indian police fired tear gas and detained hundreds of people on Thursday as fresh violence broke out and demonstrators defied bans on assembly, amid growing anger at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's alleged anti-Muslim agenda.AdvertisementSecurity forces and protesters clashed in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka states as elsewhere police bundled demonstrators onto buses, shutting Delhi metro stations and cutting cellphone access in some areas.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon at several thousand protesters in state capital Lucknow while in Modi's home state of Gujarat, police said they baton-charged demonstrators and arrested 50 people. In Bangalore, one of those dragged onto a police bus was globally renowned historian Ramachandra Guha, while in Delhi, Harsh Mander, a prominent rights activist, was also detained.
In Mumbai, a crowd of thousands including tattooed students and older Muslim men wearing skullcaps brandished Indian flags, posters of Mahatma Gandhi and handed out copies of the constitution. Security forces in the capital have fired some 450 tear gas shells in the past five days, the Hindustan Times daily reported. One student reportedly lost an eye.