Attack on CPM procession in Siliguri

TT, Siliguri, Aug. 15: Suspected Trinamul supporters attacked a procession organised by the CPM in Matigara on the outskirts of Siliguri this evening.

Siliguri Municipal Corporation mayor Asok Bhattacharya, also a CPM state secretariat member, and Jibesh Sarkar, the Darjeeling district unit secretary of the party, were leading the procession to protest the ransacking of a CPM office in the area yesterday.

"A group of Trinamul supporters, carrying iron rods, sticks and stones, attacked us. The manner in which they hit our workers and hurled stones at our supporters indicates that it was a planned attack," Bhattacharya said after the procession ended at 5.30pm.

According to him, at least three cadres received injuries on their hands and feet.

"They hurled pebbles at me but I escaped unhurt. This is nothing but a part of Trinamul's plan to regularly attack Opposition parties," he said.

The attackers retreated, CPM leaders said, when local residents came out of their homes and joined the procession to "confront" them.

"The spontaneity with which the residents stood up against the attackers is indicative of their overwhelming support to us. It is this support that Trinamul wants to snatch from us," Bhattacharya said.

A police complaint has been registered.

District Trinamul leaders denied involvement of party activists in the attack. "We had no role in today's attack on the CPM procession. Let the police find out who the culprits are," a Trinamul leader in Siliguri said.