Police personnel detain a Paschimbanga Chhatra Samaj activist during a protest march to Nabanna against the alleged rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor, in Howrah.
Credit: PTI Photo
Kolkata: Amid a large number of youths taking part in Tuesday’s march towards West Bengal secretariat Nabanna, a few faces were an odd lot – middle-aged or elderly, but as committed as the others.
The rally, which turned violent leading to injury to both protestors and police personnel, was organised to demand the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the wake of the alleged rape and murder of a young woman doctor inside a state-run hospital in Kolkata recently.
"I am a simple woman, a mother," said a woman who joined the march near Howrah Bridge that links Kolkata and Howrah.
"I am here today for the safety of your daughter, my daughter, and all daughters. The leaders and ministers have bodyguards for their daughters, but we don't. We have to fight for our daughters ourselves," she said.
An agitated woman was also seen standing against a barricade erected to prevent the participants of the rally from proceeding towards the state secretariat.
"Shoot us when you can't protect and save women," she was heard shouting at the police personnel present there.
In Howrah, an elderly man with a beard, dressed in red, stood firmly, holding the national flag, when a jet of water from a cannon whizzed past nearby.
“Let them (police personnel) sit wearing bangles. They too have mothers and sisters at home. We are here to fight for the safety of women. None of us have any weapons. We have come with the national flag," he said.