KALAIKUNDA (India), Nov 7: Tens of thousands of Communist activists thronged a military air base on Monday to protest at joint exercises by the Indian and US air forces, witnesses said.

Security was tightened at the Indian air force base at Kalaikunda, 120 kilometres southwest of Kolkata, as the Marxist-led protest gathered momentum.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist, a key legislative ally of the Congress party-led national government, insists the war games are part of an American ploy to set up military bases in the country.

The protesters shouted anti-US slogans and torched cloth-and-bamboo effigies of President George W. Bush at Kalaikunda where India’s Russian-made MiG-29 and MiG-21 jets and US F-16 fighters raced across the skies at the start of the 13 days of mock battles.

“India’s security is under threat with the arrival of the US planes,” shouted Deepak Sarkar, senior Marxist leader heading the protests.

Area police superintendent Ajay Nand put the number of protesters at 120,000.

Soldiers in gunships and armoured vehicles patrolled the facility as the protesters thronged the air base. Demonstrators made no attempt to disrupt the flights or block air force personnel in Kalaikunda where the war games also drew 20,000 spectators.—AFP