Protesters argue with a policewoman at Khanapara in Guwahati on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Feb. 18: The programme of the teachers and the employees of the non-provincialised educational institutions to gherao the residence of chief minister Tarun Gogoi at Koinadhara here this morning was nipped in the bud with security personnel rounding up several hundred of them soon after they started their march.

The protesters, demanding immediate provincialisation of 17,000-odd educational institutions from schools to degree colleges, assembled under the banner of the Assam Sikshak Karmachari Aikya Mancha.

The president of the Mancha, Prabhat Chandra Kalita, said after his release that today’s crackdown that included stopping Mancha members in Nagaon, Mangoldoi and Nalbari, would lead to an intensified agitation.

This will include a gherao of the Assembly on March 7 during the one-day session to present the interim budget, burning of the chief minister’s effigy on Tuesday and announcing the names of 2,000 candidates for each of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies the day after.

A district official said the protesters were released from Basistha police station in the evening. Over 1,500 Mancha members gathered for the protest.

The Mancha, however, accused security personnel of caning, kicking and dragging the protesters inside police vans on way to the police station, leaving 12 of them injured.

The allegation was denied by the district administration official in-charge of the Dispur locality.