Residents of a COVID-19 containment zone in Gujarat’s Rajkot district threw stones at police and damaged vehicles when they were stopped by security personnel from removing barricades placed in the area, an official said on May 17.
Nearly 68 people were arrested after the incident that took place in Jangleshwar locality of Rajkot around May 16 midnight, he said, adding that police lobbed tear gas shells and baton-charged the locals to bring the situation under control.
The locals allegedly threw stones at the policemen and damaged vehicles when the security men tried to stop them from removing barricades placed in the area designated as ‘red zone’, due to a large number of coronavirus cases found there, an official from Bhaktinagar police station said.
People of the locality were upset as local authorities were not removing barricades in their area, even as barricades in some other areas under containment zone were being removed, Bhaktinagar’s police inspector V.K. Gadhvi said.
Police lobbed six teargas shells and baton-charged the mob to control the situation, he said.
Nearly 68 people were later arrested and booked under Sections 147, 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to public servant) and 353 (assault on public servant ) of the Indian Penal Code, he said.
Security was stepped up in the area to maintain law and order, he added.
