CALCUTTA, India (Reuters)
Popular anger in India spilled onto the streets on Wednesday following the Sachin Tendulkar ball-tampering controversy.

Discontent has mounted since match referee Mike Denness handed Tendulkar, India's world-class batsman, a suspended one-Test ban and fined him on Tuesday for doctoring the ball during the drawn second Test against South Africa.

Five other Indian players, including captain Sourav Ganguly, were also sanctioned for "bringing the game to disrepute" by their excessive appealing.

"Go to hell, Denness" and "No to racism in cricket" read slogans raised by protesters in the eastern city of Calcutta.

Waving posters of local hero Ganguly and Tendulkar, some of the protesters, dressed in cricket whites, enacted a match where one person played the role of Denness - a former England captain - and another that of Tendulkar, with the match referee making a string of ridiculous decisions to the delight of bystanders.

"We want to tell 'Denness the Menace' that he is biased against Indians and to stop conspiring against the Indian team, which will defeat the English cricket team," said Madan Mitra, chairman of the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Society, a social organisation behind the protest.

"Remove neo-racist Denness," another banner read. In another demonstration in Calcutta - home to the famous Eden Gardens ground - protesters held up garlanded portraits of Indian players as they marched close to Ganguly's residence.

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