Kolkata: Violent protests against the amended Citizenship Act rocked West Bengal for the second consecutive day on Saturday which saw torching of a number of trains, railway stations and tracks, setting on fire of buses and damage to property.
The protesters of the Act mostly targeted railway properties and Murshidabad and Howrah districts bore the brunt of their ire.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has resolutely opposed the Citizenship Amendment Bill, appealed for peace, while the opposition BJP threatened to move the Centre for imposition of President's Rule if the “mayhem by Bangladeshi Muslim infiltrators continued”.
Protesters set on fire a number of empty trains at Krishnapur station in Murshidabad district, besides railway tracks at Lalgola station. The agitators vandalised Sujnipara and set fire on railway tracks at Harishchandrapur in neighbouring Malda district.
They ransacked Sankrail railway station in Howrah district, torched its ticket counter and damaged the signalling system. “When RPF and railway personnel tried to stop them, they were beaten up,” a senior Railway Protection Force official said.
In Domjur and Bagnan in Howrah protestors rampaged outside the stations, blocked roads and set fire to shops.
The NH6 was blocked in Domjur by protesters who burnt tyres and ransacked several vehicles, a police official said.
A huge police contingent has been rushed to the spot to control the situation, they said. A toll plaza was set ablaze in Murshidabad.
The protests affected movement of trains in South Eastern Railways and in Howrah and Sealdah sections.
Train services came to a halt in Howrah-Kharagpur section of the South Eastern Railway since 11 am as protesters sat on the tracks at Sankrail, Nalpur, Mourigram and Bakranawabaz stations, said its zonal spokesperson Sanjoy Ghosh.
