MNS Workers Vandalise Dance Bar In Panvel After Raj Thackeray's Speech Against Such Practice
According to police, more than a dozen individuals armed with sticks stormed the Night Riders bar, damaging furniture and smashing liquor bottles.
A group of men from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) vandalised a dance bar in Panvel late last night, hours after party chief Raj Thackeray delivered a charged speech against such establishments in the Raigad district.
According to police, more than a dozen individuals armed with sticks stormed the Night Riders bar, damaging furniture and smashing liquor bottles.
Social media videos showed the bar's interior in disarray, with broken tables and shattered glass strewn across the premises.
The incident occurred shortly after Thackeray addressed a Kisan Mazdoor Party gathering in Panvel, where he denounced the proliferation of dance bars in Raigad.
'Raigad district has the most dance bars. They were closed, right? So many dance bars in Raigad, who owns them? Only Marathi people? So, if you are being evicted from here, then you are being trapped by making you habituated to dance bars. This is our Raigad. Raigad was the capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj," Thackeray said during his speech.
Following the remarks, MNS workers allegedly took to the streets and targeted the bar around midnight. Police have launched an investigation and are reviewing CCTV footage and gathering eyewitness accounts.
MNS Defends Vandalism
MNS leader Sandip Deshpande defended the vandalism, calling it a 'symbolic protest."
'This is a symbolic protest, the bars are illegal, that's why it had to be done immediately. The government should pay attention to this," he said.
The MNS has faced criticism in the past for encouraging vigilantism and has previously been accused of attacking non-Marathi speakers and enforcing linguistic conformity.
Law enforcement officials have not yet confirmed any arrests, but said action will be taken based on evidence collected during the investigation.
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