Readers of The Telegraph wrote in about what they went through on Wednesday with their city under siege. We pick a few...

To get to my 12-year-old daughter Ayesha’s school, Loreto House, we dodged missiles, burning cars and teargas shells, only to find our way barred by wild-eyed men in a frenzy.... Is this the same city we are so proud to belong to?

— Anjana Dutt,resident of Ballygunge.

We live between Jora Girja and Ripon Street. Yesterday’s incident has really shaken us up. We all stayed huddled inside, praying that it does not snowball into a riot. My four-year-old nephew, who was trapped in St James School, later told me: “We were told some bad men had set fire to police cars... I was very scared.”

— Priyanka,resident of AJC Bose Road.

It was a nerve-wracking day for us in our third-floor office, just off the Park Circus seven-point crossing. As soon as trouble started, we moved our cars into the building. We saw vehicles being attacked, we saw bewildered schoolchildren being taken home by scared parents, we helped escort a group of students from Lady Brabourne College to Beckbagan, we saw the smoke of burnt cars. We finally breathed easy when the army marched in.

— Jayanta Sarkar,an ad agency official.