Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Police on Wednesday cane-charged and also used a water cannon to disperse protesting Congress workers who were demanding the permission of the administration here in Madhya Pradesh to allow the public celebration of upcoming festivals by relaxing the COVID-19 curbs.
The police initially used a water cannon and then cane-charged Congress workers, who were staging a silent protest holding the tricolour and saffron flags, when they tried to enter the district collector's office in the Moti Tabela area by removing barricades, eye-witnesses said.
Police said the protesters ignored their warnings not to remove the barricades and surged ahead, forcing them to take action.
The police action resulted in a stampede-like situation, eye-witnesses claimed.
Reacting to the incident, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath accused the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government of adopting "double standards".
He alleged Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia's recent "Jan Ashirwad Yatra" was allowed without restrictions in Indore but when Congress workers demanded permission to publicly celebrate upcoming festivals like Ganesh Utsav, Anant Chaturdashi and Paryushan Parv in the city, the force was used to suppress them.
Former ministers and Congress MLAs Vijaylaxmi Sadho and Jitu Patwari led the protest.
Indore, once the worst hotspot of coronavirus infection in Madhya Pradesh, is now reporting new cases in a single digit. Only two new COVID-19 cases were detected on Tuesday.
