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Police have used batons to beat thirsty Indians struggling to buy alcohol for the first time in 40 days, as the government further eased the world’s largest coronavirus blockade.
The government attributes its harsh shutdown of almost all activities since the end of March by keeping the coronavirus case count at 42,500 relatively modest, with around 1,400 deaths.
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But the blockade has also dealt a severe blow to Asia’s third-largest economy and caused millions of workers in India’s vast informal sector misery: the pandemic suddenly left unemployed.
In addition to some relaxations for industry and agriculture last month, Monday’s offices could operate with a third of capacity. Some cars and motorcycles were seen on the roads, and some stores were opened.
Officials had painstakingly drawn chalk circles for alcoholic drinkers to stand up, but social distancing efforts were thwarted as people gathered from early morning onwards.
“We have been in solitude for more than a month,” Asit Banerjee, 55, told the AFP news agency while queuing in Kolkata, where, like in New Delhi and elsewhere, the police used batons to control crowds .
“Alcohol will energize us to maintain social detachment during the pandemic,” he said.
Elsewhere, such as Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh state, the shops were closed by police shortly after they opened as long lines of men in face masks meandered around the block.
“One of the stores had opened in the morning, but fighting broke out as many people had gathered,” a police officer in Ghaziabad told AFP.
Despite the closings, hundreds of people continue to loiter on neighboring streets and alleys in hopes that stores will be reopened.
“It’s not like I have something to do at home,” Deepak Kumar, 30, told AFP as he patiently waited across the street from a retail outlet in New Delhi.
One lucky customer who managed to buy some wine, Sagar, 25, said he went to a store in the national capital at 7:30 a.m. (02:00 GMT) and I was delighted to discover that it had opened early.
“There were between 20 and 25 people in the morning and the store was open for approximately two hours,” he told AFP.
“People in rows of five were allowed in. Now they’ve closed it.”
Indian police outside a liquor store in New Delhi that had to be closed after large crowds gathered to buy alcohol [Yawar Nazir/Getty Images]
In some states, including Maharashtra, certain liquor stores remained closed amid confusion over which stores they could open. In other states, such as Assam, they opened several days earlier.
Although it is illegal in some states like Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alcohol consumption has increased sharply in recent years as the country’s middle class has grown.
This is particularly true in the case of spirits, as the country of 1.3 billion people is reported to consume almost half of the world’s whiskey, although much of it was rum according to purists.
Police clash with migrant workers
Meanwhile, the police in Gujarat Surat city fired tear gas at a crowd of protesting migrant workers trying to return to their homes in states across India.
Although authorities say rigid restrictions on work and travel are key to beating the virus, the closure has jeopardized the economic survival of many, including some 140 million migrant workers.
About 1,000 stranded workers gathered on the outskirts of Surat and threw stones at police who ordered them to disperse, an official said.
“So far we have detained 80 people and we are in the process of identifying more,” Surat Police Chief AM Muniya told reporters.
#WATCH Gujarat: A clash breaks out between migrant workers and the police in Surat. Workers demand that they be sent back to their places of origin. pic.twitter.com/aiMvjHGukY
– ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2020
Indian partner of Reuters news agency ANI shared a video showing police firing tear gas at a large group of men standing inside a lane lined with closed shops.
Local television showed images of policemen entering buildings and homes in the area and arresting people.
Surat, an industrial center and center for diamond processing, has suffered multiple incidents of labor unrest since the closure began in March.
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