Bangalore: June 4 (DHNS) : Hundreds of workers of Rajya Raitha Sangha, Hasiru Sene, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Samata Sainik Dal and Praja Vimochana Chalawali staged protests at Mahatma Gandhi statue and in front of Palace Grounds here on Thursday to condemn the ongoing Global Investors Meet. 

The Cubbon Park police arrested around 350 protesters at Mahatma Gandhi statue and kept them at CAR ground in Adugodi and released them later, while the High Grounds police arrested three persons who barged inside the Palace Grounds. They were also released them later.

Rajya Raitha Sangh chief Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, who led the protest, alleged the State government was “trying to lease out the State in the name of Global Investors’ Meet”. It had “hatched a conspiracy to privatise all sectors for the benefit of capitalist forces.” The government should take the lead on its own and start industries if it was really committed to industrial growth, he said.

The protesters alleged that there were plans to privatise transport, health and academic sectors. The government was planning to award around two lakh acres land by setting up land bank.

Vedike president Narayan Gowda, Kodihalli Chandrashekhar, Praja Vimochana Chalawali leader P Nagaraj and Samata Sainik Dal’s Venkata Swamy were among the arrested.