A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Uluberia in West Bengal's Howrah district was vandalised and torched on Friday after protests over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma turned violent.
Watch Video:
Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters blocked roads and railway tracks in different parts of Howrah district over the controversial remarks, police said.
The agitators clashed with police personnel at Dhulagarh, Panchla and Uluberia when they tried to lift the blockade on a national highway stretch, a police officer said.
Police had to baton-charge to disperse the crowd at Dhulagarh and Panchla, where the demonstrators pelted stones in retaliation, causing damage to nearby cars, the officer said.
They placed burning tyres on the road at Panchla and Dhulagarh, and set a police kiosk on fire in Uluberia, he said.
The protesters also blocked railway tracks at Chengail, Fuleswar and Santragachi stations in the Howrah-Kharagpur section from 1.22 pm, a South Eastern Railway official said.
Four trains have been cancelled, while two have been diverted due to the agitation, he said.
Similar protests had taken place on Thursday, with agitators disrupting traffic at Ankurhati in Howrah district for around 11 hours, officials said.
(With PTI inputs)
(To receive our E-paper on whatsapp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
