Police use water cannons, baton-charge to quell protesting ABVP activists in Kolkata

An officer of the Bidhannaagar Police Commissionerate said around 100 ABVP members turned violent when they were stopped near Bikash Bhavan.

ABVP force their way past the security cordon near Bikash Bhavan in Bidhannagar near Kolkata. (Photo| Twitter)

KOLKATA: Police on Wednesday used water cannons and baton-charged activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, who tried to force their way past the security cordon near Bikash Bhavan here in protest against alleged irregularities in appointments to various posts of the education department.

An officer of the Bidhannaagar Police Commissionerate said around 100 ABVP members turned violent when they were stopped near Bikash Bhavan - the headquarters of the department - prompting security personnel to baton-charge and deploy water cannons.

TMC Govt used water cannons on karyakartas of ABVP in Kolkata while peacefully protesting against corruption in SEC recruitment and collapse of law & order in Bengal.

The atrocity of Mamta Govt can not break our spirit and the movement will be continued until justice is served. pic.twitter.com/R2c5O88oV4

— ABVP (@ABVPVoice) May 18, 2022

ABVP national secretary Saptarshi Sarkar said that "four of our activists were arrested while at least six others suffered injuries in the police action".

Sarkar said the ABVP members wanted to submit a memorandum to the higher education authorities against the alleged irregularities in appointments. "The lathi-charge by police was unprovoked," he claimed.