Bhubaneswar: Police resorted to lathi-charge, fired tear gas shells and used water cannon to disperse Congress workers as they broke barricades to proceed towards Odisha Assembly on Thursday.
The protesters also pelted stones and hurled chairs along the Mahatma Gandhi Marg, injuring two police personnel, and attempted to set a police van on fire.
Earlier, hundreds of party workers led by senior Congress leaders took out a march from Ram Mandir and congregated at Lower PMG, affecting vehicular movement on Janpath in the city, especially from Ram Mandir Square to Master Canteen Square.
Illegal detention may spark tension, warns Odisha Congress Chief
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das urged party workers to maintain peace even if they were detained by police, during its ‘Vidhan Sabha gherao’ programme. He also assured the administration that the party workers will not enter the premises and hold a peaceful protest for the safety of women in the state.
Stating that he was receiving information from different districts that Congress workers were being prevented from reaching Bhubaneswar to participate in the protest, Das warned that Illegal detention may spark tension in districts and Congress will in no way be responsible for that situation.
The party called for the Odisha Assembly gherao over its demand for the formation of a committee to probe all crimes against women that took place during the nine months after the BJP came to power. The Congress MLAs had earlier disrupted the House by beating gongs over this issue, leading to their weeklong suspension for unruly behaviour. Odisha Assembly also witnessed high drama on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning with 12 Congress members being evicted from the House following a scuffle with the security staff.
On Wednesday, Ex-CLP leader Narasingha Mishra had said that the government had added fuel to the fire prior to the” Assembly Gherao” by suspending all 14 Congress MLAs from the House.
Police bandobast
Meanwhile, police tightened security with deployment of 80 platoons of police forces, including 10 platoons comprising women personnel, on all roads leading to the assembly. Roadblocks were also put up with barbed wire atop to stop the protesters from entering the Assembly premises and ward off untoward incidents. “We will also deploy the Odisha Swift Action Force, which is used for tackling riots. If anyone violates the law, action will be taken against them,” Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Meena told the media.
In a written advisory, the Commissionerate Police had also urged motorists to avoid various routes around the assembly’s vicinity between 9 am and 3 pm.
On Tuesday, police were completely caught unawares as hundreds of Congress members gathered outside the assembly despite the imposition of prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNS.
