West Bengal violence: Lathicharge, teargas shells and water canons used on BJP protestors as they rally against political murders in state

Clashes broke out during Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) protest rally in Kolkata as police used water cannons and teargas shells to disperse the mob. The BJP workers were also lathicharged as they were marched towards the Kolkata Police Headquarters in Lal Bazar to protest against alleged killings of party workers under the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) government.

#WATCH: Kolkata police baton charge at BJP workers on Bepin Behari Ganguly Street. They were marching towards Lal Bazar protesting against TMC govt. #WestBengal pic.twitter.com/RxIGPSqBGd

— ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2019

The march, which began from central Kolkata’s Subodh Mullick Square and moved towards the Lalbazar area, was being led by close to one lakh protestors, reports claimed. Security had been beefed up at all major crossings, and Lalbazar was turned into a fortress since morning in a bid to curb any untoward incident during the rally. The rally was organised in protest against the alleged killing of two BJP workers at Bashirhat on Saturday and the death of many other workers in clashes over the last few weeks in reported post-poll violence in the state. In 2017, the party had held another march to the city police headquarters, during which a large number of BJP workers clashed with police leading to violence. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Mamata had marched in a huge procession to Vidyasagar College to participate in the re-installation event of the 19th-century social reformer’s bust. The bust of Vidyasagar was vandalised in clashes between BJP and TMC workers during BJP president Amit Shah’s roadshow on 14 May.