Protesting teachers, police clash outside West Bengal Education Department HQ

Police stop protesters outside Bikash Bhavan, in Kolkata. Pic/PTI

The area around Bikash Bhavan, the headquarters of the West Bengal Education Department in Salt Lake, turned into a virtual battlefield on Thursday evening after a series of violent clashes broke out between protesting school teachers and police.

Many teachers, including several women, were injured in police action, which persisted for over an hour, eyewitnesses said.

The teachers, who lost their jobs following a court order last month that cancelled thousands of appointments in government-aided schools due to irregularities in the recruitment process, had been staging a sit-in demonstration in front of the education department headquarters since afternoon, demanding reinstatement.

Claiming that five agitators were seriously injured and around 100 suffered minor injuries, one of the protestors said they would continue to stage blockades in front of Bikash Bhavan from Friday.

Meanwhile, state police on Friday said 19 of its personnel were injured, one of them seriously and a suo motu case has been lodged against persons identified as instigators of the unrest.

Tensions escalated around 8 pm on Thursday when additional police forces were deployed, and an attempt was made to disperse the demonstrators using batons, a police officer said.

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