At least 200 injured as police crack down on belligerent Left workers in WB

TIL Desk/National/Kolkata/ At least 79 police personnel and over 100 Left protesters were injured on Monday as security forces used tear gas and carried out baton charges on thousands of belligerent activists who broke barricades and hurled stones at the police here and neighbouring Howrah during a protest march to the secretariat.

Police officers in Kolkata and Howrah said 217 people, including 11 Left lawmakers, were arrested after they indulged in violence and violated prohibitory orders during the “March to Nabanna (state secretariat)”. The stir was organised by 11 Left peasant bodies to press for their 18-point charter of demands including measures to stop farmers’ distress and rising unemployment.

Sixty nine police personnel were injured in Kolkata, and ten others in Howrah in scuffles with agitators, pelting of stones or when hit with sticks. In New Delhi, Left Front spearhead, the Communist Party of India-Marxist’s General Secretary Sitaram Yechury claimed around 250 Left supporters sustained injuries.

Police arrested 24 Left activists and 11 MLAs from the spot. They were released late in the evening. Kolkata police’s Joint Commissioner (headquarters) Supratim Sarkar said 182 arrests were made, of them 45 women. Those arrested included prominent Left leaders.