A farmers' rally called by the opposition Left Front and other left organisations here on Thursday turned violent with protesters and police engaging in pitched battles and stone pelting leading to a number of leaders and workers and policemen getting injured.
Leader of Opposition and CPI-M state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and Left Front chairman and veteran Marxist leader Biman Bose were caught in the melee and claimed they were hit by bricks as agitators and police engaged in pitched battles.
CPI-M Rajya Sabha member Ritabrata Banerjee, who sustained an injury on his left hand, claimed over 100 people were injured. The CPI-M politburo said around 200 demonstrators were on the injured list.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was in north Bengal, went to the state-run SSKM Hospital straight from the airport on her return to the city to see the injured police personnel.
"I wish all those who have been injured, starting from the common people, to police personnel, they get well soon. There was rampage whole day," she said.
A senior city police officer said around 25-30 of their personnel, including officers and inspectors, sustained various degrees of injuries. Three protesters were arrested and cases under various sections slapped against many of them.
Led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist -affiliated All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and supported by other Left Front affiliated peasant fronts, 17 Left parties and mass organisations, the "Nabanna Abhiyan" - a march to the state secretariat - was to press for their 17-point charter of demands including issues such as farmer suicides and rehabilitation of farmers ruined by the recent floods in West Bengal.
Taken out from four spots, two in the city - Rani Rashmoni Road and Khidirpur - and two from neighbouring Howrah district, the rallies turned violent as police resorted to baton-charges and used water cannons to disperse the agitators who, in their bid to march towards Nabanna, broke police barricades.
While the Left Front dubbed the police as Mamata Banerjee's "Gestapo", the ruling Trinamool Congress accused the Left leaders of instigating trouble.
"Police have acted like Trinamool volunteers. Just to break a peaceful agitation, they rained batons on peasants," said Bose.
"Police have acted much like Hitler's Gestapo. many of the injured have their bones shattered, there is complete anarchy," said Ritabrata Banerjee after visiting the injured at the SSKM Hospital.
Mishra claimed police did not even spare the women and the elderly and went on a "baton charging spree".
In a statement, the CPI-M politburo "strongly" condemned the state government, for the "unprovoked, brutal police lathi charges, tear gassing and use of water cannons" against the "massive" demonstration of peasants.
The politburo said around 200 demonstrators, including women, were injured and many had to be hospitalised.
"This brutal police action under the orders of the TMC Government shows the utter contempt of this government towards the democratic rights of the people. At a time when the kisans of West Bengal are in the grip of acute crisis caused by the policies of the Central and State Government, protesting kisans are sought to be silenced through state repression."
However, Joint Police Commissioner Rajeev Mishra claimed police acted in a restrained way, despite the 'violent' agitation.
"About 25-30 of our men including officers and inspectors have sustained various degrees of injuries. Many of the agitators carried stones and bricks with them. So far we have arrested three people and registered cases under various sections against many of them," Mishra told mediapersons showing a video clip of the agitation.
Condemning the protest, senior Trinamool leader and Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee claimed that the Left leaders have been planning to create trouble for long and even carried bricks and bombs with them.
"The rally was not taken out with any political aim or to press for legitimate demands, but it was solely for the purpose of creating anarchy. Their motive is evident from the fact that they carried bombs and bricks with them," said Mukherjee alleging several Left leaders carried bricks.
