Thousands besiege India's car plant

SINGUR, India, (AFP) - About 40,000 protesters on Sunday surrounded the Indian factory slated to produce the world’s cheapest car, alleging land for the site was forcibly taken from local farmers, police said.

Demonstrators blocked main roads near the plant at Singur, 35km northwest of the state capital Kolkata, as riot police protected the factory premises, authorities said.

“Security has been tightened in and around Tata’s small car project. More than 4,000 policemen have been deployed,” Raj Kanojia, a senior police official of West Bengal state, told AFP.

The gates of the factory, which is still under construction, have been fenced off, Kanojia said, as an October deadline for the first 2,500-dollar Nano car to roll off the assembly line appeared under severe threat.

Kanojia put the number of protesters at 40,000, though activists said they expected as many as 200,000 to join the action in the coming days.