Many businesses in the Indian financial hub of Mumbai closed yesterday as protesters from a Dalit community blocked traffic and shopping malls and staged sit-ins on railway lines after clashes with right-wing Hindus.
The call for a general strike across the western state of Maharashtra led to largely peaceful protests, but life in many parts of Mumbai was disrupted, with Dalits pelting buses with stones and deflating tires in some areas.
Railway lines and some major roads leading into the city were blocked.
The Dalits, who rank at the bottom in India’s ancient caste hierarchy, called the strike in protest of attacks from right-wing groups in the city of Pune on Monday.
The strike shut businesses and schools in Mumbai and other cities across the state.
“The government didn’t arrest the perpetrators of violence in Pune. Hindu group members were beating Dalits and the police were just watching from afar,” protester Sandeep Kamble said.
Dalits have been ostracized by upper-caste Hindus for centuries for jobs they deemed as impure, such as garbage pickers and tannery workers.
Those protests followed celebrations by Dalits in Pune on the 200th anniversary of a battle they won, fighting alongside British colonial forces against an upper-caste ruler.
Those celebrations were disrupted by right-wing Hindu groups and a 28-year-old man was killed in the clashes, the state government said.
In parts of the Mumbai suburb of Thane, officials banned the assembly of crowds, small or large, to control protesters, who disrupted road and rail services during the morning rush hour.
Internet was down in places to restrict social media access and the spread of rumors.
Fleet taxis, along with cab hailing services like Uber and Ola, were also largely off the roads in Mumbai. Several offices asked employees to work from home.
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