Left-Cong activists clash with police during march ove jobs; 12-hour Bengal bandh called on Friday

Left and Congress activistsdemanding jobs clashed with the police in central Kolkata'sEsplanade area Thursday as they tried to break barricades ontheir way to state secretariat Nabanna, resulting in injuriesto several participants and also the police.

Condemning the brutal attacks on students and young men andwomen by the ''police force of the Trinamool Congressgovernment'', Left Front Chairman Biman Bose announced a 12-hour West Bengal bandh by the Left and associate parties from6 am on Friday in protest.

''The way police unleashed atrocities on the participants inthe march to Nabanna, it created a situation somewhat akin tothe historic Jallianwala Bagh incident,'' Bose said in astatement.

The Left Front chairman claimed that more than 150students and young men and women were injured in the policeaction while participating in the 'Nabanna abhiyan' programmeof the student and youth wings of the Left and Congressdemanding jobs and better education facilities.

Bose said that the bandh call has been discussed with theLeft Front constituents and the Congress party, with which ithas formed an electoral alliance for the coming assemblyelections in West Bengal.

The Left-Congress allaince has come up to make the Bengalpolls a triangular fight with the TMC and the BJP.

The march to Nabanna started at College Street but wasstopped by the police on SN Banerjee Road in the Esplanadearea.

As the activists tried to head further by breaking theheavy metal barricades, police used water cannons.

Amid slogans against the Mamata Banerjee government, theLeft-wing youths and students tried to climb up thebarricades, following which police began a baton-charge andalso fired tear-gas shells.

Some police officials were also reported to be injured inthe clashes.

CPI(M) politburo member Mohammad Salim alleged that theMamata Banerjee government is totally dependent on the policeforce to suppress protests and demands by the people.

''Why is she afraid of receiving a memorandum from joblessyouths,'' he asked in a press conference at the CPI(M)headquarters here after the incident.

Condemning the attacks on the agitators, Congress RajyaSabha MP Pradip Bhattacharya said that the Trinamool Congressgovernment has lost the people's faith and violent suppressionof protests is an indication of that.