Police lathi-charge at shikshamitras in Yogi Adityanath's home-constituency Gorakhpur, 100 arrested, several injured

Thousands of shikshamitras and police officials suffered injuries after a scuffle broke between the security forces and protesters at Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath  home-constituency Gorakhpur on Thursday.

Shikshamitras numbering in thousands had gathered at Panth Park in Gorakhnath University to protest the July 25 Supreme Court verdict declaring appointment of 1,38,000 shikshamitras out of 1,72,000 as assistant teachers as illegitimate.

The protesters in large numbers raised anti-slogans against BJP, Yogi and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Police resorted to lathi-charge only after the shikshamitras pelted stone and started creating ruckus on the city roads, damaging government and public properties,” said Rajeev Rautela, Gorakhpur District Magistrate to the media.

Senior police officials present at the university campus tried to negotiate with the protesters not to take the roads.

The protest turned violent after the protesting shikshamitras took the roads to march towards the  Gorakhnath Mutt — a temple of the Nath monastic group in the Nath tradition.

The protest turned violent after the police tried to stop the protesters advancing towards the Gorakhnath Mutt. The police resorted to lathi-charge after the protesters forced themselves over the barricades  and pelted stones at police personnel on duty.

All roads moving towards Gorakhnath Mutt were barricaded by the security force. A large number of security forces dodged the police and managed to reach the mutt. At the same time a large number of protesters sat at dharna at Dharmsala Bazaar, which led to huge traffic jam in the city. To disperse the protester and normalise situation police resorted to firing water-canon.

Police said more than hundreds of shikshamitras have been arrested. While, the Shiksamitras claimed that they were peacefully protesting and marching to the Gorakhnath Mutt when security forces resorted to lathi-charge. They also claimed that more than 100 of shikshamitras including women have suffered serious injuries due to the police lathi-charge.