Kolkata : Tension ran high in Hazra More, near the residence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee when the police resorted to a lathi charge on a large number of BJP supporters who were protesting the assault on Union Minister and party MP Babul Supriya on Wednesday afternoon.
The state BJP organised a protest rally to condemn the attack on Supriya who was injured when a group of Trinamool Congress supporters allegedly pelted stones on him in Asansol on Wednesday.
On Thursday, when the BJP rally moved to Hazra More from Rash Behari Avenue, the police stopped them from proceeding forward. But the BJP supporters tried to move towards the residence of Mamata Banerjee in the nearby Kalighat area by breaking the barricades set up by the police.
The police alleged that at this juncture, irate BJP supporters started pelting stones on them. In retaliation, the police conducted a lathi charge on BJP supporters and chased them away. The trouble continued for more than an hour when the police arrested a large number of BJP supporters including state BJP leader Jay Prakash Mazumder.
Rupa Ganguly, the newly elected BJP Rajya Sabha MP said that the police caned the party supporters without any provocation. She also refuted the allegation that party supporters had pelted stones on the police. As a result of the agitation, traffic was thrown out of gear in the locality for a long time.
