Protesters try to set a bus ablaze near Sovabazar Metro Railway station. Picture by Pabitra Das

Protests against the Nandigram police firing rocked Calcutta on Thursday, with a 100-strong group of lawyers trying to storm the residence of director-general of police (DGP) A.B. Vohra in Alipore.

A bus was set on fire, the windscreen of another was damaged and the windowpanes of a police vehicle were smashed by protesters at various places.

“Around 100 lawyers of Alipore court gathered outside the DGP’s residence in the afternoon, raising slogans,” said P.K. Chatterjee, deputy commissioner (headquarters).

They overpowered the constables at the gate and overturned a wooden kiosk in which the guards stand. Some of them entered the premises and tried to damage the flower pots. The situation was brought under control after police reinforcements arrived.

Congress and Trinamul Congress workers fanned out across the city in large numbers to protest the killings.

Youth Congress workers held a protest at the North Gate of the Assembly, Syed Amir Ali Avenue-Beckbagan crossing and in front of Writers Buildings between 1.30 pm and 3.30 pm. Around 130 Congress workers were arrested. The windows of a police van were smashed near the Assembly.

The windscreen of a CTC bus was broken at the crossing of Aurobindo Sarani and Jatindra Mohan Avenue, in north Calcutta. A constable was injured in a clash between police and demonstrators in central Calcutta. “Protesters tried to set a bus on fire near Sovabazar Metro station, but failed,” said Chatterjee.

Around 3.30 pm, around 300 lawyers of the high court squatted in front of the GPO. “They, however, dispersed on their own after some time,” said an officer.

In Salt Lake, protesters set a state bus, on the Salt Lake-Howrah route, on fire in Sector V. Around 100 lawyers of Howrah court demonstrated in front of the office of the district magistrate. A 150-strong group of Trinamul supporters gheraoed Bally police station for two hours. Some of the protesters even stripped.

Train services in Howrah and Sealdah divisions were disrupted in the morning. The Sealdah-bound Rajdhani Express had to be detained at Rajchandrapur for 15 minutes.