Lucknow: Police fired in the air and cane charged opposition Samajwadi Party activists protesting the death of an Uttar Pradesh engineer who was allegedly lynched by a ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislator for refusing to contribute money for Mayawati's birthday celebrations.
The Acting State Unit President of the Samajwadi Party, Shivpal Yadav and SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's son, Akhilesh Yadav were arrested from outside the UP Governor's house along with 200 party workers for staging a protest against the killing.
"We will bring everything to a standstill across the state," Shivpal Singh Yadav had said earlier.
Party activists stopped trains at many places in the state. The protesters stopped trains in Allahabad, Itawah, Kanpur and a number of districts. State government engineers have also called for a shutdown to protest the killing.
The Congress party has declared it will cooperate with the Samajwadi Party during the shutdown. "We are all united against the killing of a class-I officer. The incident has put a blot on the democracy and projects how insecure government officials are in the regime of Mayawati," said an angry state Congress President Rita Bahuguna Joshi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for closure of schools, government offices and other departments in Auraiya.
Police also fired in the air to disperse protesting Samajwadi Party workers in Auraiya and Agra district on Thursday afternoon.
"We fired about half a dozen tear gas shells on Samajwadi Party activists and also used mild force to disperse them from near the government hospital, where the body of the engineer was kept for autopsy. We have also arrested a number of Samajwadi Party workers and the situation is under control," a senior police officer of Auraiya said on the condition of anonymity.
In Agra, police also had to use mild force to disperse the protesters. "The police arrested over two dozen protesters in Agra," another policeman said.
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