Protests turn violent in West Bengal, Assam situation eases
Trains, buses torched over new citizenship law; Mamata appeals for calm
Special Correspondent
Kolkata/Guwahati
The protests against the Citizenship (Amendment)
Act took a violent turn in West Bengal on Saturday, while in parts of Nagaland
schools and colleges were closed markets were shut and vehicles remained
largely off the road during a sixhour shutdown called by the Naga Students’
Federation (NSF).
However, the situation eased in Assam.
As protesters torched railway stations and
buses, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to people to shun
violence.
Empty train coaches were set on fire at the
Krishnapur and Lalgola stations in Murshidabad.
In
certain areas like Suti, protesters tried to uproot the rail track. According
to reports, trains were set on fire at five locations in these two stations.
Assam, however, showed signs of limping back
to normalcy as the fight against the Act shifted to the Supreme Court.
Violence
was reported in Howrah near Garfa Bridge on Kona Expressway where protesters
attacked several buses and set them on fire. In the same district, a ticket counter
at Sankrail was set on fire on Friday. Protests and road blockades by burning
tyres was also reported from at Domjur and Bauria. At several places in the
district protests and disruptions were reported at different railway stations.
More than half a dozen long distance trains
of South Eastern Railways were cancelled and trains remained stuck at various stations.
Surburban railway services in Sealdah Hasnabad section in North 24 Parganas
were affected as protesters squatted on the railway track.
There were reports of protests from several
places in the district as also from Murari in Birbhum district and a few places
in Paschim Medinipur district.
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