INDIA: ELEVEN PEOPLE ARE KILLED DURING A NATIONAL STRIKE THAT BOTH GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION PARTIES CLAIM AS A VICTORY.
Record ID:
341931
INDIA: ELEVEN PEOPLE ARE KILLED DURING A NATIONAL STRIKE THAT BOTH GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION PARTIES CLAIM AS A VICTORY.
- Title: INDIA: ELEVEN PEOPLE ARE KILLED DURING A NATIONAL STRIKE THAT BOTH GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION PARTIES CLAIM AS A VICTORY.
- Date: 30th August 1989
- Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (AUGUST 30, 1989) 1. TRAVEL SHOTS QUIET STREETS WITHOUT TRAFFIC, CLOSED SHOPS, TROOPS IN STREET. (2 SHOTS) 0.13 2. SV AND CU PROTESTERS MARCHING THROUGH STREETS FOLLOWED BY POLICE AND TROOPS. (4 SHOTS) 0.31 3. GV AND SV TROOPS IN TRUCKS AND TROOPS ALONGSIDE BUS. (2 SHOTS) 0.44 4. SVS PROTESTERS CHANTING. (2 SHOTS) 0.58 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 14th September 1989 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW DELHI, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA6L13O389CI8L0LXLZ2Q74Y0NK
- Story Text: NEW DELHI, INDIA
Eleven people were killed in India on Wednesday during a national strike that both the government and the opposition claimed as a victory.
Hundreds were arrested, but there was less violence than feared. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's government went to great lengths to thwart the one-day strike.
The walkout was called by opposition parties demanding Gandhi's resignation over his alleged improper handling of a 1.3-billion-U.S.-dollar purchase of weapons from the Bofors company of Sweden.
Deploying police in strength, authorities warned civil servants of serious consequences if they took part. Central government offices and state-owned industries worked fairly normally, but many people seemed to take the strike as an opportunity for a day off.
The worst trouble was in the north-eastern state of Tripura, a Marxist stronghold, where eight people were killed and 40 injured in clashes between Congress and Communist Party workers.
Three people were killed in opposition-ruled Kerala in southern India.
Home Minister Buta Singh called the day of action a failure but opposition leader Vishwanath Pratap Singh told reporters: "The strike was near-total in its magnitude."
The strike was widely seen as a trial of strength ahead of parliamentary elections due by the end of the year.
<strong>Source: REUTERS - ARUN KAPOOR</strong> - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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