Protests demanding job quotas for Indian minority group Maratha turn violent

Hundreds of demonstrators call for quotas in employment and education for members of the influential community including one who fatally threw himself in front of a train in protest

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Members of the Maratha community members protesting on Wednesday in Mumbai, India. They are demanding quotas in government jobs and education. Photo: AP

Published: 1:47am, 31 Jul 2018Updated: 2:00am, 31 Jul 2018

Hundreds of people demanding quotas in employment and education for India’s Maratha minority burned buses, blocked a motorway and attacked police with rocks on Monday. An unknown number were injured, police said.

Police reinforcements dispersed the angry protesters belonging to the Maratha Revolutionary Front in western Maharashtra state, whose capital is Mumbai. The violence occurred in Chakan, 145 kilometres (90 miles) southeast of Mumbai.

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The Press Trust of India news agency said a 35-year-old man killed himself by jumping in front of a train in Aurangabad, another city in the state. Police officer Natha Jadhav said the protester posted a message on his Facebook page saying he was ending his life to support his demand for job quotas, the news agency reported.

People from the Maratha community shout slogans as they block a motorway during a protest in Mumbai. Photo: EPA-EFE

The government had granted the influential Maratha community a 16 per cent quota in jobs and education in 2016, but the decision was struck down by the Mumbai High Court.