Kolkata police used force to ward off BJP workers’ peaceful march to Lalbazar

Kolkata police used force to ward off BJP workers’ peaceful march to Lalbazar

No one was seriously injured in the lathi charge

Journalists too fell sick after inhaling tear gas

BJP leaders conclude the march for the day

Kolkata, June 12 (HS): The Kolkata police today resorted to lathi charge, burst tear gas shells and used water canons to ward off thousands of BJP workers who took part in the party’s scheduled ‘March to Lalbazar’ (city Police headqurters) in Central Kolkata this afternoon to protest the ‘deteriorating’ law and order in West Bengal.

Though no one was seriously injured in the lathi charge, several people including a few BJP leaders, party workers and even some journalists fell sick after inhaling tear gas, forcing the state BJP leaders to conclude the march for the day.

Earlier, thousands of BJP workers and supporters from across the city and neighbouring districts gathered at Subodh Mullick Square in Central Kolkata to participate in the proposed March to Lalbazar along with all senior leaders of the party and several newly elected MPs to protest the deaths of several party workers in different parts of the state after the poll and the alleged overall deterioration of law and order situation in West Bengal.

On the other hand, in order to prevent the marchers from proceeding, the police also made elaborate arrangements and apart from deploying over 1500 police personnel, set up road blocks and iron barricades at three different road junctions on way to Lalbazar.

The movement of traffic in several busy streets in and around Central Kolkata was also stopped by 12 noon by the police as a preventive measure as the entire looked like a battle zone.

As the massive protest march began at around 1-30 p.m. and the marchers broke the first police barricade at the Fears Lane junction and started moving further, the police first resorted to firing of water cannons on BJP workers before lobbing a number of tear gas shells on them in a bid to stop them from moving further.

Though the marchers tried to put up some resistance and even wanted to move forward despite the police action, they could not because of the effect of tear gas on many of them and soon the entire gathering dispersed and the people started running helter-skelter looking for safe places to take shelter.

Though after sometime many BJP workers led by senior BJP leaders like Kailash Vijaybargiya, Mukul Roy, state party President Dilip Ghosh, Rahul Sinha, Syantan Basu, Jayprakash Mazumdar and Raju Banerjee among several others  once again gathered at B B Ganguly Street, about 500 yards from Lalbazar, and sat on a Dharna in protest, before planning to restart their march, once again a strong contingent of lathi weilding police reached the spot and used their batons to ward them off, forcing the party leaders to call off their protest march for the day.

‘We have decided to call off the protest March for the day since a number of our party workers and some leaders like Raju Banerjee and others fell sick after inhaling tear gas’, Dilip Ghosh told Hindusthan Samachar later.

He and state BJP Vice President Jayprakash Mazumdar also criticised the police lathi charge on peaceful demonstrators and claimed that a few of their party workers were injured, though none was hospitalised.