Patna: Crowd violence marred two cultural events in the state on Wednesday night as unruly people created ruckus during Bhojpuri music shows in Muzaffarpur and Vaishali. Stone-pelting and chair-throwing broke out at separate venues, triggering panic and forcing police to use batons to control and disperse the crowds.In the first incident, a clash broke out during a performance by Bhojpuri singer Khesari Lal Yadav at Babu Arjun Mela in Muzaffarpur, after the crowd turned unruly and began pelting stones at the stage. The trouble started when fans tried to breach security to take selfies with the singer on the stage. Private guards attempted to restrain the crowd using sticks, triggering stone-pelting. Several people were injured in the scuffle, forcing Khesari Lal to leave the venue midway.The mela was organised by former BJP MLA Ramsurat Rai. Notably, the same event had witnessed another disturbance two days earlier, when female orchestra dancers got into a heated argument during a stage performance on March 28 night. The argument soon escalated into a physical fight, with dancers punching each other and pulling hair. The organisers had to switch off stage lights and halt the programme. Videos of the clash later went viral on social media.Rai claimed that the situation spiralled out of control after the crowd broke through police barricades, leading to the cancellation of the programme, which further enraged attendees.Muzaffarpur SSP Kantesh Kumar Mishra held the organisers responsible for the chaos. “Despite deployment of 150 police personnel and a DSP, the situation went out of hand. Those involved are being identified through video footage, and an FIR will be registered and action will be taken against them,” he said.In another incident, chaos erupted during the Bhojpuri night at the Vaishali Mahotsav, where the crowd became unruly about half an hour after folk singer Kalpana Patwari took the stage on Wednesday night. Audiences allegedly threw chairs, triggering panic. Police resorted to a baton charge to disperse the crowd and restore order.Earlier, an unruly gathering at a temple in Nalanda district had also led to a stampede that killed nine people, further underscoring the risks posed by poor crowd regulation at public events in the state.
