Singur stir: Kolkata cops stop rally, detain Medha

The Kolkata Police today arrested social activist Medha Patkar and her supporters near Jawaharlal Nehru Road, while they were marching towards Nandan complex to protest against the alleged atrocities on farmers in Singur. They were also condemning the police assault on mediapersons at Seoraphuli yesterday.

Today’s protest was a silent procession. The police intercepted the rally near Park Street and stopped it from advancing further. Medha, with her fellow NAPM comrades Shukhendu Bhattacharya, Pranab Bandopadhya, convenor of Joint Forum Against Eviction, Gautam Sen, and Partha Ghosh, State committee members of CPI(ML), and a few other supporters were detained for a couple of hours before being released at about 5 pm.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, HQ, P K Chatterjee said, “Medha Patkar along with her supporters were taken into custody because they broke a police cordon.”

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On Monday, the CPI(M)’s Students Federation of India is scheduled to hold a rally 100 metres to the south of where Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is on hunger strike. Trinamool, too, plans to gather supporters around their leader.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, the CPI(M) again appealed to Mamata to call off her hunger strike. The appeal was made at its Alimuddin Street headquarters after an emergency meeting of the Left Front. “Continue your agitation, we are not afraid,” Biman Bose said.