Riots In Northern India Leaves 19 Dead
KABUL: (MEP) At least 19 were killed in clashes between protesters and security forces in the northern state of Haryana in India, local authorities said.
“Nineteen people have died and more than 200 are injured,” Haryana additional chief secretary P. K. Das said on Saturday.
Thousands of soldiers and paramilitary forces have been dispatched on Sunday, after protesters demanding a quota for government jobs for their caste turned violent and attacked cars, shops and several public buildings, as well as cutting a key water source for the capital city, New Delhi.
Officials, initially put the number of dead to 10 and injured to 150.
India’s largest carmaker, Japanese-owned Maruti Suzuki, suspended production at its two Haryana factories, which usually together make 5,000 cars a day, saying its supply of components had been disrupted.
New Delhi authorities ordered all the city’s schools to remain closed Monday, as they braced for a crisis caused by the protesters, who vandalised a waterworks that is a crucial source of water for the city.
“The clashes are ongoing and we had to use firearms to break up the protesters,” the officer told AFP.
The protesters say they are discontented with India’s affirmative action program. Traditionally seen as an affluent and thus upper caste, the Jat community was designated a “backward caste” by the government back in March 2014.
