Eggs thrown at Mamata Banerjee’s rally in West Bengal
Eggs were allegedly thrown at a protest march led by Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Wednesday, with slogans of “chor, chor” also raised during the rally. The march, which proceeded from Ballygunge Phari to Hazra More, was organised by the Trinamool Congress to protest the alleged rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Baruipur.Clashes broke out between workers of the BJP and the Trinamool Congress’ youth wing during the rally, prompting police to resort to a baton charge to bring the situation under control.The clashes, which erupted near the rally’s starting point, continued intermittently along the nearly three-kilometre route before reaching their peak at Hazra Crossing, close to the residence of Mamata Banerjee. Police struggled to contain the violence as tensions escalated and the situation threatened to spiral out of control.Alleging that the police had failed to act impartially, Mamata Banerjee accused the force of functioning as “an arm of the BJP organisation”.”The police cannot provide protection to common people and are being used to sabotage our programme,” Mamata said. “Total lawlessness in Bengal; police acting as BJP workers,” she added. Meanwhile, BJP leaders alleged that Trinamool Congress youth wing workers provoked their supporters, leading to the clashes during the rally. The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday set aside a communication issued by the Kolkata Police denying permission for the protest march and allowed the Trinamool Congress to hold the rally, subject to a series of conditions.The court modified the proposed route, directing that the march conclude at Hazra Crossing instead of the originally planned endpoint at Lansdowne Market on Sarat Bose Road, citing the need to “minimise the inconvenience of the people at large”.It also revised the rally timings to 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm from the originally proposed 3 pm to 6 pm schedule, prohibited the use of loudspeakers and permitted only handheld microphones.Additionally, the court directed organisers to keep one flank of the procession route open for vehicular traffic and ordered that the crowd, capped at 1,000 participants, be dispersed once the rally reached its destination.Senior Trinamool Congress leaders accompanying the march urged supporters to maintain peace and discipline, while accusing the BJP of attempting to disrupt the programme.
