Police attacked with stones & iron rods .....Protests against quarantine centres continue in south Bengal

The injured OC, Subrata Ghosh, being brought to hospital on Tuesday. Picture by Santosh Kumar Mandal

Abhijeet Chatterjee, TT, 15.04.20, Asansol: Villagers attacked police with stones and iron rods in yet another protest against quarantine centre at Churulia in West Burdwan district on Tuesday morning.

Twenty police personnel, including Jamuria officer-in-charge Subrata Ghosh, suffered injuries in the violence in which the mob had allegedly used guns and bombs as well. Sources said most of the attackers were into coal theft.

Six of the injured policemen, including Ghosh, were hospitalised while others were released after preliminary treatment. Journalists were chased away from the area by the mob.

The incident took place despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s repeated appeals to people against opposing quarantine centres. Dozens of such protests — claiming one life in Birbhum — have been reported from across the state.

In Churulia, the quarantine centre has been set up at a state-run youth hostel. The sources said 25 people had been quarantined at the centre since Friday.

“Six of them were shifted to another quarantine centre on Monday. Local people suspected that the six had tested positive and that triggered today’s protest,” said a source.

When health workers accompanied by police arrived at the quarantine centre on Tuesday morning, angry villagers started a protest. “When the police tried to pacify the villagers, the protesters threw stones at the law enforcers and beat them up with iron roads. Ghosh suffered a fracture in the left leg. Many policemen suffered head injuries,” said the source.

Reinforcements led by deputy-commissioner (central) Sayak Das from Asansol reached the spot and lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob.

On Monday night, a group of tribal people detained health workers carrying six suspected patients in two ambulances to a quarantine centre at Rupnarayanpur in the neighbouring Salanpur block.

The protesters ransacked the ambulances and blocked the road till 4am. Tyres were set ablaze.

A large police contingent rushed to the spot but failed to pacify the mob, which gheraoed the law enforcers with bows and arrows.

Later, the civil and police administration returned with the six suspects and quarantined them at the Asansol District Hospital.