Nabanna Abhijan: Clashes erupt between student protesters and Kolkata police

The students' march of the Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj on Aug 27 demanding the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old trainee doctor earlier this month turned violent after police lathi-charged as protesters threw stones.

After continued protests from doctors across India, the student body marched towards the state secretariat “Nabanna” from Kolkata’s College Square On Aug 27 afternoon.

Chaos gripped the Kolkata streets as police tried to stop the protest march using teargas shells and water cannons.

The Kolkata police have deemed the march “illegal” and stopped the march from proceeding to the secretariat with protesters breaking barricades and throwing stones at the policemen deployed on the route.

The ruling Trinamool Congress party had earlier alleged a conspiracy to create unrest during the rally.
Kolkata Police had turned Nabanna into a fortress with 6,000 police personnel deployed to stop the protesters from advancing the secretariat from any route.

Drones were also used to keep a watch on the protesters. Barricades have been welded into the ground and greased to prevent the protesters from scaling them.

Other student organizations and citizen forums have also supposedly joined the protest.

The march by the student body is backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The BJP has claimed that police lathi charges have led to several protesters being injured.

Before the march started, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari wrote a post on X claiming that four “student activists who were arriving at the Howrah railway station went missing after midnight”. However, the West Bengal police busted this claim and termed it a “false narrative".

The West Bengal police in a statement said that four persons have been arrested for allegedly “planning to orchestrate large-scale violence during the Nabanna Abhijan, and involved in a conspiracy of murder and attempted murder”.

Meanwhile, the organizer of the march has said that their protest is 'apolitical' and no BJP leader or leader of any other political party will be put in the forefront to demand CM Mamata Banerjee's resignation for her alleged failure to ensure women's safety in the state.