Kolkata: Trouble broke out here on Friday evening after supporters of the Lalgarh-based resistance group protested against alleged police high-handedness towards some of its members in the city. The protesters blocked arterial streets.
The incident was a sequel to an altercation between supporters of the Police Santrash Birodhi Janashadharaner Committee (People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities) and the police over what the latter claimed was violation of traffic rules by drivers of some buses that had brought PSBJC men into the city for a rally.
PSBJC leader Chhatradhar Mahato alleged that the police had attacked a few buses and assaulted their drivers.
Peak-hour traffic was disrupted as a result of the blockade. Leaders of the PSBJC and those of some allied organisations demanded an apology from the police for attacking the buses that were to take their supporters back to Lalgarh. They threatened to hold an indefinite protest on the streets unless their demand was met.
The police later assured the protesters that their allegations would be inquired into.
Earlier, PSBJC members, many of them tribals armed with bows and arrows, took out a procession to the rally site.
The rally was organised in support of the PSBJC’s agitation against “police excesses” in the Lalgarh area of Paschim Medinipur district.
Parts of Lalgarh have been declared out of bounds to the police by the PSBJC ever since trouble broke out there following attempts to track down those responsible for a powerful IED blast that narrowly missed Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy which passed through the region on November 2, 2008.
The police have not entered the area for more than five months.
Friday’s developments came at a time when the Election Commission is considering special arrangements to ensure peaceful polls in the Lalgarh as well as adjoining areas, where Maoists, suspected to be backing the PSBJC, have been active in recent times.
The incident was a sequel to an altercation between supporters of the Police Santrash Birodhi Janashadharaner Committee (People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities) and the police over what the latter claimed was violation of traffic rules by drivers of some buses that had brought PSBJC men into the city for a rally.
PSBJC leader Chhatradhar Mahato alleged that the police had attacked a few buses and assaulted their drivers.
Peak-hour traffic was disrupted as a result of the blockade. Leaders of the PSBJC and those of some allied organisations demanded an apology from the police for attacking the buses that were to take their supporters back to Lalgarh. They threatened to hold an indefinite protest on the streets unless their demand was met.
The police later assured the protesters that their allegations would be inquired into.
Earlier, PSBJC members, many of them tribals armed with bows and arrows, took out a procession to the rally site.
The rally was organised in support of the PSBJC’s agitation against “police excesses” in the Lalgarh area of Paschim Medinipur district.
Parts of Lalgarh have been declared out of bounds to the police by the PSBJC ever since trouble broke out there following attempts to track down those responsible for a powerful IED blast that narrowly missed Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy which passed through the region on November 2, 2008.
The police have not entered the area for more than five months.
Friday’s developments came at a time when the Election Commission is considering special arrangements to ensure peaceful polls in the Lalgarh as well as adjoining areas, where Maoists, suspected to be backing the PSBJC, have been active in recent times.
Source: The Hindu
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