Normal life in West Bengal has been partially hit on Friday due to the 12-hour state-wide strike called by the Left Front parties and Congress in protest against the violence that had erupted on Thursday during the DYFI’s Nabanna march.

CPIM’s youth wing DYFI had called for the Nabanna expedition to demand jobs and education for all from the TMC-led West Bengal government.

However, the event turned violent after the protestors tried to break through police barricades and make their way. Police took to water cannons and lathicharging. Several youth members of the Left parties were seriously injured and were taken to medical facilities.

On Friday, Left cadres blocked railway tracks and roads in Malda, Barddhaman, Raiganj, Asansol, Dankuni and parts of Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts during the bandh that
began at 6 am.

Protestors were also seen burning tyres at some places, including at Moulali in central Kolkata. They offered roses to policemen in other areas.

Calling for bandh in protest against the “brutal attack” by the police, Left Front chairman Biman Bose had claimed that over 150 students and young men and women were injured.

Massive police presence was witnessed on the roads during the day to ensure that public transport functioned
normally.

Left Front leader Sujan Chakraborty said that people have spontaneously responded in favour of the bandh. He said that school students have not been prevented from physically attending their classes.

Meanwhile, Indian Secular Front leader Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui extended support to the bandh.

Condemning the police action, he alleged that the TMC government conducts administrative repression even as it
opposes the “unconstitutional activities” of the Centre.

On Thursday, the police had put heavy barricades at Kolkata’s Dorina Crossing to stop the march from crossing river Hooghly and proceeding towards Nabanna in Howrah.

The protestors, though, paid no heed to the security officials and tried to uplift the barricades to make their way through, leading to a massive confrontation.

Reportedly, the DYFI and youth members of the Left Front parties hurled stones, footballs and oranges towards the deployed Rapid Action Force (RAF) and other police officials.

Failing to turn away the march and disperse the protestors, the police resorted to lathicharging, while simultaneously trying to disrupt the crowd with water cannons.

With PTI inputs