[Watch] Nabanna Abhijaan: Police Fire Water Cannon, Tear Gas On Protesters, Resort To Lathicharge

Kolkata: Chaos erupted after security personnel, including Kolkata and West Bengal police, lobbed tear gas shells, fired water cannons, shot rubber bullets and resorted to lathicharge to disperse protesters  from Howrah Bridge and Santragachi—on the outskirts of Kolkata—while they were marching towards the state secretariat, Nabanna, on Tuesday to demand Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation over the RG Kar Hospital rape and murder.

Similar was the scene at Kolkata’s College Square area that has several key colleges. Security personnel resorted to lathicharge at the protesters there as well.

Amid the massive outcry over the incident, this march—called by a non-descript outfit, Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj, is being seen as a key event against the Mamata Banerjee-led state government.

The march has been called to purportedly demand Mamata’s resignation over the incident and how the state handled its investigation. Three individuals—Subhankar Haldar, Sayan Lahiri and Prabir Das—have claimed themselves to be the organisers. The organisers of the march had reportedly said the crowd would assemble at 2 pm for the ‘March to Nabanna’ or ‘Nabanna Abhijaan’ on Tuesday (August 27).

At a recent news conference, the trio claimed that they met on social media and termed their initiative as apolitical. The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party has called the event as illegal and blamed the BJP, RSS  and CPI(M) sympathisers of attempting to trigger chaos in Kolkata.