March to Nabanna: Kolkata police use water cannons, tear gas at protesters

Amid the ongoing ‘Nabanna Abhiyan’ march to the State Secretariat, organised by the student organisation named Paschimbanga Chattro Samaj, the West Bengal police have used water cannons to disperse protesters gathered at Howrah Bridge.

The BJP which is said to be backing the student body has claimed that police lathi (baton) charge has led to several protesters being injured.

Earlier, a large crowd gathered around College square in Kolkata as the ‘Nabanna Abhiyan’ protest march began on Tuesday (August 27, 2024), according to Indian newspapers.

Ahead of the march, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari on X claimed that four “student activists who were arriving at the Horah railway station went missing after midnight”. Terming the BJP’s claims as “false narrative”, the West Bengal police this morning issued a statement that the said four persons have been arrested for allegedly “planning to orchestrate large-scale violence during the Nabanna Abhijan today, and involved in a conspiracy of murder and attempted murder”.

Amid the ongoing row over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, the Paschimbanga Chattro Samaj, a student organisation called for a ‘March to Nabanna’ on Tuesday (August 27, 2024), demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. However, police have refused to grant permission to conduct the protest.

West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front in an official statement said that the student rally is not called by them and they will not participate in the march.

Major roads leading to the Secretariat have been barricaded and thousands of police have been deployed across Kolkata anticipating violence during the march, which was begun at 2 p.m.

A student uses a scarf to cover her face after security personnel fired tear gas shells to disperse students during the Nabanno March protest in Kolkata on Tuesday.