Left Front holds protest rally in Kolkata

Three rallies headed to Lalbazar, led by West Bengal Left Front chairman Biman Bose, WB CPI-M general secretory and opposition leader of WB assembly Surya Kanta Mishra and CPI-M MP Md. Salim, started on Thursday evening from Esplanade, Subodh Mullick Square and College Square area in Kolkata. Setting up barricades, the  police stopped the rallies at Bentinck Street, Ganesh Chandra Avenue and B. B. Ganguly Street respectively.

A huge police force, the Rapid Action Force (RAF), combat force, riot police, water cannons and tear cell launcher vehicles were deployed in those areas to control the situation.

At B. B. Ganguly Road and Bentinck Street, Left supporters engaged in a scuffle with the police force. Protesters allegedly threw rotten eggs and tomatoes, aiming at the police.

Meanwhile, a huge number of protesters, including senior CPI-M leader Dipak Dasgupta, were injured during an unprovoked lathicharge by the police force.

WB Left Front chairman Biman Bose told IBNS: "Police restored to lathicharge brutally on our peaceful rally. We are condemning this and will observe protest marches everywhere in Bengal tomorrow."

CPI-M's state secretory Surya Kanta Mishra told IBNS, "Today's attack by the police was totally unprovoked. Over 300 Left leader-supporters have been injured in the brutal attack of the Kolkata Police and were admitted in Calcutta Medical College and Hospital for treatment."

However, denying all allegations, one senior officer of Kolkata Police told IBNS, "Nowhere police restored to lathicharge today. Aiming at the police, protesters threw stones, rotten eggs and tomatoes. They also attacked our men with the sticks of their flags. Few policemen were injured in the attack."

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha, Image by IBNS)