Over a dozen people were injured when Maoists attacked a protest rally organised against them by their former cadres and displaced people in Kalaiya, the district headquarters of Bara, Thursday afternoon. Hundreds of ‘Maoist victims’ led by former local leaders of the rebel party who were expelled from the party’s ranks few days earlier, staged demonstration against Maoist atrocities, reports said. A group of Maoists who were carrying canes indiscriminately beat up the protesters, severely injuring some of them. Those injured in the attack include Binod Kushbaha, former district president of the Maoist student union - he was expelled from the organisation few days earlier – and two other expelled Maoists. Reports said the rebels took away three seriously injured persons with them for ‘treatment’ while others have been admitted at different local hospitals. Maoist cadres also stopped hundreds of others at different places, who were coming to the district headquarters to participate in the protest rally. Scuffle erupted when the Maoist district president, Jameen, tried to the stop the rally. The Maoists attacked the protesters with canes when the later demonstrated in front of district office of the Maoists. This was the biggest protest against Maoist atrocities in the area in recent times, reports added. nepalnews.com mk Aug 24 06