Bandh peaceful, no reports of violence in the city: Bengaluru Police

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The City Police Commisioner stated that the police had taken more than 700 protestors into detention.

The security across the city is intact and officers are still on patrol. The prohibitory orders will be in place till 12 midnight on Friday, he said.

Addressing a press conference in the evening, Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda said the bandh passed off peacefully in the city, where there were no reports of stone pelting, forceful closure of shops, and stopping of vehicles plying on roads.

"A total of 785 protesters were detained and taken into custody as a preventive measure. But they were all released later, he said. Around 1,500 protesters had gathered at Freedom Park here as part of the protests," he said.

Security was tightened with heavy police deployment across the state. The Bengaluru Police had also imposed section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure since Thursday midnight as a precautionary measure.

The police also detained scores of protesters who tried to block the Bengaluru-Hosur and Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highways by staging a sitin protest, official sources said on Friday morning.

In the Cauvery heartland of Mandya, 325 protesters were taken into preventive detention and released later. Members of farmers associations held a ‘rail-roko’ protest in the district and raised slogans against the state government over releasing Cauvery river water to Tamil Nadu.

They staged a protest by sitting on the railway track but were taken into custody. The bandh was observed peacefully in the districts of Chamarajanagara and Mysuru where no preventive detentions were made by the police.

With no untoward incidents of violence being reported, the state is returning to normalcy, R Hithendra, Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, said on Friday evening.

"The buses, cabs and autos have started to ply on the roads. Shops, commercial complexes and malls are safe to open to the public in Bengaluru. The other major cities of southern Karnataka, where bandh was observed in toto are also returning to normalcy," he said.

IGPs, SPs, and City Police Commissioners are on patrol. The security is beefed up in border areas, and highways, the ADGP added.