[The protesting farmers have reportedly also vandalised some private vehicles. (ANI Photo)]
Mumbai: Angry farmers protesting against a proposed international airport early in the morning on Thursday clashed with police and set on fire their vehicle in Thane some 45 kms from Maharashtra capital Mumbai. Several policemen have been reported to be injured, sources daid.
Farmers were angy over plans to turn an abandoned World War II airbase into an operational airport at Nevali, about 45 km northeast of Mumbai. Violence erupted on Thursday when farmers whose land had been acquired for the project by Ministry of Defence went on rampage, clashed with police and burnt their vehicle.
TV footage showed stick-wielding farmers disrupting normal traffic on Thane-Badlapur highway by burning tyres. They clashed with police when they tried to disperse the unruly mob. Several police personnel, including an an assistant police commissioner, are injured.
“Some of our policemen suffered injuries while trying to control the situation,” said an officer who did not wish to be named.
According to other reports, farmers from 17 villages were holding protests at 10 spots. The biggest of them was on the Thane-Badlapur highway, where they blocked traffic on about 10 roads and vandalised vehicles.
Additional forces, including riot control police have been rushed to the spot to control the situation.
More than 1500 acre premises belongs to the Navy. But over the years, it had been encroached upon by the locals. The Navy is constructing boundary wall encircling the British-era aerodrome.
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