Kolkata: A BJP protest march to the West Bengal state secretariat, Nabanna, turned violent after protestors hurled bombs and stones at policemen in Kolkata and the adjoining Howrah district.
In turn, police firied tear gas shells, used water cannons and lathicharged the protesters.
In the clash with police, several BJP workers, including Bengal party vice-president Raju Banerjee, were injured. BJP workers also set tyres on fire as a mark of protest.
Tejasvi Surya, newly-appointed BJP youth wing chief, also flew to participate in the protests at Howrah Maidan. BJP seniors like Arjun Singh, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Locket Chatterjee and Mukul Roy also took part in the “March to Nabanna”.
“The police are using their force to stop our workers who were organising a peaceful protest. This is the state of affairs in Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal,” BJP MP Arjun Singh said.
“We are protesting democratically, but Bengal government has tried to turn our peaceful demonstration into a violent protest,” Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya alleged.
The BJP youth wing had organized the protests citing deterioration of law and order situation and lack of employment opportunities in Bengal among other reasons.
Earlier, the Bengal government had announced that the secretariat will be shut for two days from October 8 “for sanitisation purpose”.
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