Indian police opened fire on hundreds of protesters - killing one - at a demonstration against the proposed construction of a nuclear power station, police and the government said Monday. Maharashtra Police inspector general Gulabrao Pol said officers were left with little choice but to fire on the crowd near the site in Jaitapur, about 250 miles (400 kilometres) from the state capital Mumbai.
"We had done everything to control the situation but the mob consisting of hundreds of people took law and order into their hands," he was quoted as saying by the domestic Press Trust of India news agency. "Our men threw teargas shells, lathi-charged the mob (charged with bamboo sticks) and fired rubber bullets. Later, we had no option but to fire bullets in which one person was killed."
Pol said more than 20 people were arrested following the demonstration and eight police officers were injured when stones were thrown and a local police station was set on fire. Maharashtra's home minister R.R. Patil told the state assembly that 600 to 700 people were involved in the protest and some of the demonstrators were suspected of being armed.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.