Cop, journalists among 10 injured in clash between Cong, BJP’s youth wing workers in Indore

Indore (PTI): Nearly 10 persons, including a policeman and two journalists, were injured after workers of the Congress and the BJP’s youth wing BJYM clashed and pelted stones at each other during a protest in Indore on Saturday, officials said.

They said police had to use water cannons to disperse the crowd.

Chaos broke out after a group of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) members reached Congress office ‘Gandhi Bhavan’ here and tried to lay siege to it to protest against a demonstration by Youth Congress workers at the ‘AI Impact Summit’ in New Delhi a day earlier.

Indian Youth Congress workers on Friday staged a dramatic ‘shirtless protest’ during the AI summit in the national capital, walking around holding t-shirts with slogans against the government and the India-US trade deal printed on them. They also repeatedly shouted “PM is compromised”.

After learning about the presence of BJYM members outside Gandhi Bhavan, Congress workers also gathered at the spot, officials said.

Eyewitnesses said police erected barricades around the Congress office to prevent workers from both sides from moving ahead. However, both groups began hurling stones at each other.

During the clash, water bottles, oranges and tomatoes were also thrown. To bring the situation under control, police used water cannons, said officials.

“During sloganeering from both sides, some miscreants began pelting stones at each other. Action is being taken after identifying the accused,” Additional Police Commissioner Amit Singh told PTI.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Shrikrishna Lalchandani said around 10 persons, including a police sub-inspector and two media persons, were injured in the stone-pelting.

Leaders of both the BJP and the Congress have accused each other’s workers of initiating the stone-pelting and demanded appropriate action from the police.