Police Showed Utmost Restraint: Trinamool's Sougata Roy On Bengal Violence

Sougata Roy's remarks came after the huge violence during yesterday's BJP protests against the alleged corruption by the Mamata Banerjee government.

Trinamool Congress's Sougata Roy today took the BJP head on over their charge of "dictatorship" against Mamata Banerjee following the huge violence during yesterday's BJP protests in Kolkata and nearby Howrah against the alleged corruption by the Mamata Banerjee government. Suvendu Adhikari, Ms Banerjee's aide-turned-chief rival, had accused her of running a dictatorship much like North Korea.

Declaring that the Bengal police have shown "tremendous restraint" in face of "extreme provocation" the Trinamool MP said, "Where did Mamata Banerjee show dictatorship? The programme (BJP rally) has been continuing since noon. The police have not fired on anybody".

Claiming that the intention of the BJP was to provoke the police so they resort to firing, he said, "The BJP workers have thrown stones and bricks at random. They have injured several policemen including IPS officers. They have broken cars in Burrabazar area... Very few BJP people have been injured. In every tv screen you can see BJP workers throwing stones".

Parts of Kolkata and Howrah had turned into battle zone yesterday as the BJP workers clashed with the police during their march to the state secretariat "Nabanna". Visuals from the city showed pitched battles on some main roads and lanes, with flag waving BJP supporters taking on the police with bamboo poles. Stones were thrown and a police car was set on fire. The police tried to control the mob with batons, water cannons and tear gas.