Youth Congress protests outside MP assembly over unemployment, Harda explosion

Youth Congress workers on Tuesday tried to climb the barricades while protesting outside the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha over issues like unemployment, Harda firecrackers factory blast and atrocities against women, forcing the police to use water cannons to disperse them.

The police detained 40 to 50 protesters, an official said.

The budget session of the state assembly is currently underway.

A massive blast and subsequent blaze at the firecrackers unit in Harda town on February 6 claimed 12 lives and left more than 200 people injured.

The protesters, led by the MP Congress president Jitu Patwari, Leader of Opposition in the assembly Umang Singhar, Youth Congress national president Sriniwas BV and state party youth wing chief Vikrant Bhuria, marched towards the Vidhan Sabha from the state party office raising slogans on various issues.

The police barricaded the road leading to the Vidhan Sabha to prevent the protesters from moving ahead.

When Patwari and others tried to cross the barricades by climbing over them, the police used water cannons to disperse them, a police official said.

Additional Commissioner of Police Awdhesh Goswami said 40-50 Youth Congress workers were taken into custody.

The police used only water cannons to disperse the protesters, he added.