Though it was not surprising for on-duty policemen to find stones and bricks flying towards them when they were restricting BJP supporters from breaking security barricades, workers of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) were taken aback when they watched the live telecast of the same on television sets. The reason being, they had ensured that no small pieces of bricks lie on the roads during the protest on Thursday morning as they might be used by the protestors to hurl at the cops.
According to a senior police officer, it is evident that the BJP supporters were carrying stones and bricks with them to pelt at the police.
After receiving a communiqué from the Kolkata Police's headquarters, KMC had engaged workers to remove bricks and stones, including the small pieces, from roads including B B Ganguly Street, Bentinck Street, R N Mukherjee Road and Brabourne Road.
A police officer said: "It leads to a question that from where the BJP leaders got the bricks to hurl at the police. Thus it is quite obvious that they had brought the same along with them and started pelting those at the cops when the latter tried to stop them from breaking security barricades."
There were reports of stones being pelted at the police at all the points where they were stopped — B B Ganguly Street, Bentinck Street and Brabourne Road which left several policemen injured.
A policeman was found lying on the road as he received severe injuries on his left leg after being hit by a stone. Bricks and stones were found scattered on the roads after the police had dispersed the mob. On Brabourne Road, the agitators hurled petrol bombs at the police.