Three Kolkata police personnel were injured on Sunday afternoon when a protest against the recent bulldozer drive in Tiljala turned violent in the Park Circus Seven-Point Crossing area, according to livemint.com.
The demonstration began peacefully around 2 pm but escalated when some protesters began pelting stones at the police contingent deployed to maintain order, livemint.com reported. Reinforcements from the Kolkata Police and central forces rushed in, conducted a route march and used mild force to disperse the crowd. The injured constables were taken to SSKM Hospital; two sustained head injuries and one a fractured wrist, the news site added.
The clash reflects growing resistance to the state’s anti-encroachment campaign that has intensified since April, when the Calcutta High Court directed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to clear “illegal structures” along railway lines and water bodies. Similar drives in Mumbai’s M-East ward and Delhi’s Jahangirpuri last year also triggered stone-throwing and arrests, showing a pattern of confrontation between civic authorities and low-income settlers who claim decades-old occupancy, as documented by multiple news outlets.
The Kolkata Police have filed an FIR for rioting and obstructing public servants; senior officers told livemint.com that CCTV footage is being scanned to identify stone-throwers. The next bulldozer operation, earlier scheduled for Monday in the adjoining Topsia area, has been deferred pending a review meeting on Tuesday between the municipal commissioner and the state home secretary.