Thousands of tribals march to Panaji
PTI, PANAJI | 09 August 2011 19:28 IST
Tribals' huge rally at Azad Maidan in Panaji
Thousands of tribal activists carried out a peaceful march in the state capital today to protest against the arrest of five tribal leaders in connection with the Balli violence that had taken place on May 25.
United Tribal Associations Alliance (UTAA), an umbrella organisation of tribal associations, held the protests to condemn the arrest of the tribal leaders by the Crime Branch.
Panaji city turned into fortress with more than 1500 policemen guarding the streets to avoid any untoward incident, with the arrival of around 10,000 tribals for the protest.
The agitators marched up to the historic Azad Maidan, where leaders addressed the crowd.
"This is a peaceful protest. There will not be any sloganeering or provocative speeches," said UTAA Special Secretary Uday Gaonkar.
Presently, all the main UTAA leaders are behind the bars.
These include two BJP MLAs Ramesh Tawadkar and Vasudev Meng Gaonkar, former BJP MLA Prakash Velip as well as former Congress candidate Govind Gawade.
"The protest also intends to draw attention of the residents of Panaji towards the issues of scheduled tribes and also to expose the harassment that tribal communities are being subjected to by the state government," Gaonkar added.
The tribal activists had clashed with police and locals during the protests, which were held at Balli in South Goa to demand for the implementation of reservation in the government jobs.
Two tribal activists – Mangesh Gaonkar and Dilip Velip - were burnt to death by the Balli villagers in post-agitation violence that erupted in retaliation of violence by the tribals.
Meanwhile, Velip and Gaonkar have been remanded to 12-day judicial custody while Tawadkar’s police custody has been extended by two days.
caitano`s comments prove that the poor tribals are getting support from the non-tribals,also.its good that people see this beyond the narrow mindedness of our typical goans view.macaa podlele naa.