Tribal protesters block Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway, 10 cops injured

Candidates of a teachers' recruitment examination laid siege on a highway in Rajasthan, pelted stones and torched vehicles on Thursday over their demand to fill vacancies in the unreserved section with the Scheduled Tribe-category candidates.

Jaipur:Thousands of tribal protesters in Rajasthan's Dungarpur turned violent on Thursday and attacked police personnel, injuring over 10 cops, including an Additional Superintendent of Police.

The protesters are said to be applicants of teachers' recruitment examination, who took to the streets and torched police vehicles demanding the filling of 1,167 general vacancy seats for ST community candidates.

The protesters have captured a 10 km stretch on the Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway, and till the filing of this report, they were marching ahead. Senior police officers have rushed to the spot to resolve the situation.

According to the police, thousands of candidates blocked the Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway, pelted policemen with stones, leaving many of them injured, besides torching several police vehicles.

The police used tear gas shells and fired in the air to disperse the crowd, but to no avail.

Sources said that demonstrations were going on without permission on the Kank Ri Dungri hill along the highway for the last 17 days. The protesters had given a deadline of September 24 to the administration.

As their demands were not met, thousands of protesters blocked the highway with rods and stones in their hands. The police team, which came to disperse the protesters, had to run away to save their lives.

(With inputs from agencies)