Surat: The arrest of Patidar quota stir leader Hardik Patel in Ahmedabad triggered angry protests by his supporters, who targeted BRTS buses and resorted to stone pelting in Patidar-dominated areas on Sunday.PAAS members set ablaze a BRTS bus near Yogi Chowk late in the evening and vandalized a BRTS bus stop on Puna-Simada Road. The city police remained on the edge as groups of PAAS members were on the roads till late in the night, keeping the situation volatile.Some of them even indulged in stone pelting at police in Yogi Chowk. Police resorted to mild lathicharge after some youths threw stones at them in Yogi Chowk. One youth suffered injuries in the lathicharge and had to be admitted to a hospital.PAAS members were detained after they threw waste collection containers on road and blocked traffic on Varachha Road with concrete blocks to protest against Hardik’s arrest. Police detained 42 members of PAAS from Mangadh Chowk in Varachha on Sunday. They were taken to Hazira police station.‘Some people wanted to sit on a fast in protest against Hardik’s arrest, but they were not allowed. However, our supporters continued their protest. I am in touch with our supporters and we are working to get everyone, who is held, released at the earliest,” said Dharmik Malaviya, convener of PAAS. Malaviya, also arrested in Ahmedabad, was released at night by police.“We had detained 42 people and they will be released once the situation becomes normal. They are not being arrested,” said R P Barot, deputy commissioner of police, zone I.The buses of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) were diverted and BRTS route from Vararchha to Kamrej was shut following protests. Over 700 GSRTC buses going toward Ahmedabad and other cities were diverted from Varachha route as as a precautionary measure.Sources said the buses for Ahmedabad and other destinations from Linear and Central bus depots were either parked or diverted towards Ankleshwar via Olpaad and Hansot. Majority of the buses arriving and going toward Ahmedabad and other destinations, including Godhra and Dahod in Panchmahal take Varachha main road to travel to Sarthana and Kamrej to reach National Highway-8.Mangadh Chowk is located in the middle of Varachha, where most of the violent incidents were reported after August 25, 2015, after the arrest of Hardik Patel. Around 30 GSRTC buses were torched by the agitating crowds at Varachha, Katargam and Puna area during the statewide agitation then.An officer with Surat Municipal Corporation’s BRTS cell said, “The entire route of BRTS from Varachha to Kamrej has been shut following the protest on Sunday. We do not want to take any chances.”

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