Kolkata saw multiple rallies through the day on Monday, 6 December, as students and ordinary citizens took to the streets to protest the violence in JNU on the night of 5 January by masked goons who went on to attack students and faculty.
While there were individual rallies by political students groups and colleges, there were also citizens rallies where people turned out in huge numbers.
As news of the attack on JNU spread, students of Jadavpur University took out a protest march on the night of 5 January itself.
This was followed by another protest march on the afternoon of 6 January which saw more people join in.
Thereafter, students and ordinary citizens started a march from College Square in North Kolkata to the Raj Bhavan.
In a huge show of strength, students even stood in front of the BJP party office, which fell on the rally route, and shouted slogans against the party and ABVP.
PLANS OF AIRPORT GHERAO DURING MODI VISIT
At the rally, it was also announced by the protestors that they will gherao the airport on 10 January when Prime Minister Modi is said to visit Kolkata to attend the 150th year celebrations of the Kolkata Port.
“There was an attack on JNU, there were attacks on Jamia and AMU before this. We have announced in the rally that the day Narendra Modi comes to Kolkata on 10 January, we well gherao the Dum Dum airport”, said Chhandak Chatterjee, one of the organisers of the protest.
Police Lathi-charge At Protests
While most rallies through the day were held peacefully and without any skirmishes, a clash occurred between the Kolkata Police and the students affiliated to the Left and the BJP in South Kolkata.
Witnesses say that a protest rally by the Left and the BJP came face to face at Kolkata’s Sulekha Mor. The police had barricaded both parties to avoid a face-off. While the BJP rally left after repeated warnings by the police, the Left rally refused to budge, say onlookers. In order to disperse the crowd, the police ordered a lathi-charge.
“While we were chasing BJP workers some Jadavpur University (JU) students entered the mob. We could not differentiate the JU students from BJP workers who were burning tyres. We did not lathicharge JU students”, said DC Jadavpur, Sudip Sarkar.
After the lathi-charge, the students sat on protest on the road at Sulekha Mor. They left after the police spoke to them and explained the incident.
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