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INDIA-POLITICS-UNREST
Indian police clash with Modi supporters in Kolkata
KOLKATA, June 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Thousands of supporters of Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi clashed with police Wednesday as they marched in
Kolkata to protest against weeks of political violence that has claimed at
least 12 lives.
Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Trinamool
Congress — which runs West Bengal state — have accused each other of
instigating weeks of violence during and since India’s recent election.
Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse more than 20,000 BJP
demonstrators as they attempted to march to police headquarters in Kolkata,
the state capital.
The BJP supporters waved party flags and chanted Hindu slogans as they
went through the cramped streets of the British colonial-era city.
Police used batons to clear protesters blocking an arterial road near
their headquarters and arrested six women supporters trying to sneak into the
building.
“We want an end to the Trinamool Congress misrule in West Bengal,” one
shouted before being arrested.
The latest protest comes a day after police said three political activists
had been killed since the weekend — including two BJP members whose bodies
were found hanging from a tree.
A Trinamool member was killed in a bomb attack late Monday.
Both parities have accused each other of the violence.
The BJP, which has traditionally held sway in the Hindi-speaking belt in
the north, has been trying hard to pick up support in West Bengal.
In the elections that ended last month with a big national victory for
Modi, the BJP increased its tally of seats in the state to 18 from just two
at the last vote in 2014.
BSS/AFP/RY/1955 hrs