MUMBAI, July 9 -- Tensions escalated in Mira Road on Tuesday with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and Shiv Sena (UBT) leading a massive protest march on the Marathi language controversy - defying prohibitory orders and ignoring preventive arrests. The rally, which saw at least a thousand political party workers marching from Balaji Circle to Mira Road railway station, from 11:00am to around 1:00pm, was a reaction to the protest by local traders and shopkeepers, after a shop owner was thrashed by MNS workers on June 30, for not speaking Marathi. Police had denied permission for Tuesday's march as it was to start at Balaji Circle, where Jodhpur Sweets is located. The shop is owned by Babulal Chowdhury, who had been attacked on June 30, and the police wanted to avoid a potential flare-up. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said permission for the march had been denied as the protesters were not willing to change their route. "Police had specific intelligence about protesters conspiring to create trouble. Maharashtra has a democratic system, which doesn't deny permission for a morcha. But the organisers had asked for a specific location for the rally, which was not convenient from the law and order point of view," he said. Tuesday's morcha comes only three days after Raj and Uddhav Thackeray, leaders of the MNS and Sena (UBT), respectively, shared the stage in a dramatic public reunion after two decades of political estrangement. Although the two parties have not announced a formal political alliance, the Thackeray cousins have set aside their differences to push the Marathi cause ahead of local body elections in the state. They are riding high after getting the BJP-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra to back down on introducing Hindi as a third language in primary schools in the state. On Tuesday, the coordination between MNS and Sena (UBT) workers was evident in their first joint protest after the Thackeray reunion. In the morning, the crowd swelled quickly as hundreds of activists from the MNS, Sena (UBT) and other outfits started to assemble at Balaji Chowk. Party workers from Borivali and Dahisar also started to arrive in large numbers. Among them were Sena (UBT) leaders such as former Thane MP Rajan Vichare and Dahisar vibhag pramukh Vinod Ghosalkar. Senior MNS leaders Sandeep Deshpande and Nitin Sardesai travelled by local train, to make sure they were not held up in traffic, to reach Mira Road. The protestors grew restless as they waited for others to arrive, and the police found it difficult to keep them in check. Overwhelmed their sheer numbers, police had little choice but to allow the march to proceed. The rally began at Balaji Circle at 11 am, as originally planned. It went past Dnyanmandir and ended at Major Kaustubh Rane Chowk, outside Mira Road station. It culminated in a rally addressed by MNS and Sena (UBT) leaders. The MNS demanded an apology from the Mira Road trading community, populated largely by Gujaratis and Marwaris, accusing them of "disrespecting Marathi". Tuesday's march had police on the back foot even as they tried to stop it from taking place. Around 35 MNS party functionaries were detained overnight, in addition to leaders such as Thane district chief Avinash Jadhav, MNS vice-president Nayan Kadam and Western Mumbai chief Kunal Mainkar. They were later released. On Tuesday morning too, groups of MNS workers and other activists were detained in Mira Road. This triggered a strong reaction from opposition parties, who asked why the police was attempting to stop the rally when the "non-Marathi" traders had been allowed to stage a protest on June 30. Mira Road MNS chief Sandeep Rane said, "Last week, the police registered a FIR for thrashing Chowdhury (the sweet shop owner) even though it was a non-cognisable offence. The traders took out a morcha and it was backed by the BJP. We wanted an apology. The traders apologised but gave their letter to the local deputy commissioner of police instead of us. We wanted to show what the Marathi people can do. This was a morale-booster for the Marathi Manoos." Deputy commissioner of police, Mira-Bhayandar, Vasai-Virar, Prakash Gaikwad, said, "We are conducting an investigation and action will be taken accordingly.'' In an interesting twist, state transport minister and Shiv Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik, whose constituency overlaps with Mira Road, attempted to join the MNS-Sena (UBT) rally on Tuesday, but he was driven away by protestors. They shouted slogans like "Jai Gujarat!" and "50 khoke ekdum ok", forcing him to leave. Sarnaik later said, " I am a Marathi first and an MLA or minister later. I have been elected on many occasions from Mira Road. The police told me not to go, but yet I went. The MNS and Shiv Sena (UBT) had an agenda to carry out. Hence I left the spot....