Rajkot: Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel and six others have been detained by Rajkot Police to avoid any untoward incident during India-South Africa One Day International here on Sunday.
Hardik was detained 2 kms away from Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) stadium as he had threatened to stage protests at the venue.
The stadium has been fortified and the city secured with deployment of large posse of police to ensure smooth conduct of the third ODI cricket match.
Following Hardik's threat, the Rajkot administration on Saturday night banned mobile internet services in the district. "We have decided to ban mobile internet service from 10 PM on Saturday night to 8 AM on Monday," District Collector Manisha Chandra said.
"The ban has been imposed to maintain peace, stop spread of rumours and for smooth conduct of the international cricket match," she said.
Hardik had on Saturday said he would block the way of Indian and South African cricket teams to the SCA stadium and not let them enter the venue if he and his supporters are not allowed to go inside to stage an agitation.
The 22-year-old leader had said they have got tickets for the match and will go to the stadium.
As per the Patidar Anamant Andolan Samiti (PAAS), of which Hardik is the convener, they have chosen the cricket match as they want the "world to know how Patel community is being harassed in the so-called development model of Gujarat".
"We have asked around 50,000 community members to rush to the SCA stadium for agitation," Hardik said.
In the wake of the threat and given the largescale violence the state witnessed recently over the quota stir, police have fortified the stadium, located on the outskirts of Rajkot city at Khandheri village, which will host the third cricket match under the Gandhi-Mandela freedom series.
"Over 2,000 policemen, three companies of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), one company of Rapid Action Force (RAF), and seven teams of quick response cells (QRC) and five Superintendents of Police (SPs) have been deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the match," Rajkot Range IG DR Patel said.
Besides, three drone cameras and 90 CCTVs have been installed at the stadium to closely monitor each and every movement of the viewers, he said, adding that if any police personnel on duty is caught watching the match instead of monitoring the crowd, will be punished.
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