Isolated incidents of violence were reported from Gujarat’s Jamnagar and Morbi districts after Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel was detained near the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium near Rajkot, where India and South Africa were playing the third match of the ongoing ODI series on Sunday. No untoward incident took place inside the stadium despite Hardik’s threat to use the match as a platform for the Patidar quota agitation. Police frisked every person entering the stadium and video-recorded spectators’ movement. They also installed mobile network jammers inside the stadium and extended the ban on mobile Internet services till Monday morning. Hardik, convener of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti, was detained from Nyara Crossroads near the stadium, when he was on his way to the stadium to “watch the match like a common spectator”. [related-post] “We have not come here to protest, but we just want to watch the match with our Patidar brothers,” Hardik was quoted saying by PTI. “I want to urge to the people to keep calm and not to do anything that will breach the peace and the law and order situation of Gujarat.” The SCA Stadium is located at Khanderi, a village around 12 km away from Rajkot. In view of the cricket match and the Patidar protest threat, traffic from this highway was diverted. Police checked vehicles at Madhapar Crossroads and only those with match tickets were allowed to go further. As the news of Hardik's detention spread, a mob vandalised a bus of the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) in Dhrol town of Jamnagar. “A mob stopped the bus and shattered its glasses. However, no untoward incident has been reported from any other part of the district,” said Pradip Shejul, SP, Jamnagar. Two GSRTC buses were set on fire in Morbi by angry Patidars who gathered on roads to protest police action against the Samiti convener. While one bus was torched at Hamirpar village near Tankara on Rajkot-Morbi road, the other was set ablaze at Mahendranagar village near Morbi town. The mob in Mahendranagar also targeted a police van and a policeman was injured in stone pelting.
