GUWAHATI, Nov 1 — Protesters torched vehicles, blocked railway tracks and roads and burnt effigies as a day-long bandh called by BJP and other saffron outfits to protest against the serial blasts hit normal life in Assam today.

All markets, shops, offices as well as educational and financial institutions remained closed with public and private vehicles remaining off the roads owning to the strike that coincided with the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi here.

Though the state secretariat and the district deputy commissioner offices were open, attendance was thin with most employees unable to reach their work places, official sources said.

Hundreds of protesters were rounded up for attempting to block railway tracks, national highways and roads.

Picketeers in Golaghat district attempted to stop trains, but were dispersed, the sources said.

Effigies were burnt at many places. There were also complaints of vehicles being set ablaze in Guwahati.

The BJP took out a protest march from its state unit office headquarters here.

In most places in the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys and the two hill districts, people chose to remain indoors.

The shutdown was called separately by the BJP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal to protest the 13 serial blasts in the state on Thursday that killed 77 persons and injured over 400.

The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has also called a 24-hour Assam bandh on Monday on the same issue. PTI

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