MNS 'rasta roko' agitation: Raj Thackeray released after detention

, Feb 11: The

(MNS) chief

was released after a brief detention in Chembur, Mumbai on Wednesday.

45-year-old Thackeray left his home in Dadar in central Mumbai at about 10 am.

He was detained at RCF police station for two hours, when he was on his way to Vashi toll plaza for 'rasta roko' agitation to protest against toll collection in the state.

While coming out of the police station, He told mediapersons that he will meet state Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday to discuss about the tax collection issue at toll plazas.

"I got a call from the CM when I was inside. He has called a meeting tomorrow morning at 9 AM," he said.

He said, "Our intention was not to cause inconvenience to the people, we were just protesting the toll being levied by the government."

Thackeray will meet Prithviraj Chavan to discuss about the tax collection issue.

He also said that today's protest has been called off but agitation will continue. He also requested his party workers to maintian peace and not to indulge in violence and vandalism.

His wife, Sharmila Thackeray staged a sit-in demonstration outside the police station in Chembur, protesting the arrest of the senior party leaders.

The preventive detentions came as the MNS's anti-toll agitation spread across the state since Wednesday morning with all major roads and highways being blockaded by thousands of party activists.

On the Aurangabad-Beed highway, minor violence erupted as some activists, purportedly of the MNS, pelted stones at buses and private vehicles to protest Thackeray's detention.

Raj's cousin and another senior party leader Shalini Thackeray led an agitation of party activists near Dahisar toll post in north-west Mumbai.

MNS activists, including representatives of its women's wings, stormed important roads and highways on the outskirts of Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Raigad, Nashik and other major cities, attempting to halt the morning peak-hour traffic.

In some places, vehicle tyres were deflated to stop vehicular movement leading to traffic snarls.

Police, accompanied by Rapid Action Force, were out in large numbers, stopping, catching and detaining hundreds of MNS activists.

On January 26, Thackeray said that people should not pay toll.

OneIndia News