About 26 cops injured, 221 held
Kolkata: During the ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ on Tuesday, about 26 police personnel were injured in various parts of Howrah and Kolkata as the protestors resorted to violence.
Police arrested about 221 persons for allegedly attacking the cops during the march organised by the Paschimbanga Chatra Samaj. About 25 others were held on Monday night as preventive measures.
On Tuesday, 95 persons were arrested, till the time this report was filed, from the areas in Howrah while 126 persons were arrested from various parts of Kolkata.
Earlier, police had arrested 25 people for allegedly arranging arms to be used against the police during the rally. A total of 26 police personnel were injured, including 15 of the Kolkata Police and 11 of the state police.
Police had set up barricades at several places in Howrah, including Santragachi, Foreshore Road and Howrah Maidan. In Kolkata, barricades were set up in College Street, M G Road, Howrah Bridge, Strand Road, Princep Ghat, Babughat among others, to stop the agitating mob. In the afternoon, the rally reached the spot of barricades and despite police requesting the protestors to move back, stones were pelted at them as the mob tried to break the barricades.
In Santragachi, the violent mob pelted stones from the railway track at the cops who had to use water cannons to force the agitators to back off.
After a while, when the violent protestors again regrouped, police resorted to a “mild” lathi charge to disperse the mob.
In the evening, Additional Director General (ADG) South Bengal, Supratim Sarkar, ADG, Law and Order, Manoj Kumar Verma and Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Central Division, Indira Mukherjee, in a joint press conference, alleged that police were attacked without any reason but cops maintained restraint even as the mob provoked them to initiate action.
Sarkar said: “Based on specific inputs, we had arrested 25 people on Monday night which prevented some worse incidents from taking place. Police were restrained and used nominal force which was needed to disperse the mob. We are checking the video footage to identify and arrest those attacking the cops”.
Sarkar further alleged that anti-social elements were active in the garb of the student community.
Later, DC Central alleged that in several places of Kolkata, police were attacked despite the cops requesting the participants of the rally to
follow the law and remain calm. She further claimed that petrol bombs were found which could have been used to attack police. Later in the evening, a ruckus unfolded during the BJP’s sudden rally to Lalbazar demanding the immediate release of those arrested from the march to Nabanna rally.
Meanwhile, Kolkata Police has registered 11 cases, so far, in 10 police stations over the attack on police.
This apart, the city police shared several photographs of accused persons and requested people to provide information about them.
