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Right-wing Mumbai leader arrested | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Police in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) have arrested the leader of a right-wing regionalist party on charges of stoking communal tension. | |
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray was freed on bail after a two-hour court hearing. | |
Mumbai police also arrested Abu Azmi, a leader of the rival Samajwadi party. He too was freed on bail. | |
Activists from Mr Thackeray's party are accused of attacks on migrant workers from northern India. | |
Mr Thackeray is a nephew of Bal Thackeray, the founder of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party. | |
The Shiv Sena has long argued for greater rights to be given to ethnic Marathis - people who can trace their origins to the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital. | |
Raj Thackeray left the Shiv Sena in December 2005 and formed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in March 2006. | |
He is believed to have quarrelled with his cousin, Uddhav, the executive president of Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray's son. | |
Tight security | |
Security has been tightened near Shivaji Park in central Mumbai where Mr Raj Thackeray lives and has his office. | |
Sena Bhavan, headquarters of the Shiv Sena party, is in the same area and has also been placed under heavy guard. | |
After his arrest, Mr Thackeray was taken in a convoy of vehicles to a court in Vikhroli. | |
Abu Azmi was arrested in a simultaneous police operation at his residence in south Mumbai. | |
The local branch of Mr Azmi's Samajwadi party draws much of its support from people who migrated to Mumbai from the impoverished northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. | |
The two arrests ended a 10-day period of intense speculation, sparked by remarks by Mr Thackeray, criticising migration from northern India. | |
The Navnirman Sena leader accused migrants of swamping Maharashtra, India's most industrialised state, in search of jobs. | |
Following his statement, his supporters attacked north Indian migrants in Mumbai and damaged property associated with them. | |
Mr Thackeray has denied inciting violence. | Mr Thackeray has denied inciting violence. |
The unrest has forced many migrants to leave their neighbourhoods. | |
A taxi driver from Uttar Pradesh accused the leader of trying to "expel a community". | |
"It is not possible to stop anyone from coming here. If I had a good job in my village in Uttar Pradesh why would I come here?" |
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