Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday started her day-long dharna in central Kolkata to protest against alleged post-poll attacks on party workers and leaders following the BJP's victory in recent assembly elections.
Banerjee reached the dharna site at Esplanade's Y-channel after the TMC's appeal to hold the protest at the adjacent Rani Rashmoni Road was turned down by the Kolkata Police.
"We were not given permission to set up a stage or use microphones," Banerjee said, while addressing the crowd using a megaphone.
The protest was marked by chaos, with TMC workers shouting slogans amid the former chief minister's speech.
Banerjee was seen accompanied by the party's old guards Firhad Hakim, Madan Mitra, Derek O'Brien, Kalyan Banerjee and Dola Sen, amid the conspicuous absence of most of the fresh faces who won the assembly seats on TMC tickets.
The party supremo, however, asserted that the dharna, to protest Saturday's attack on her nephew and TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, alleged post-poll violence and hawker eviction, will continue till the evening as scheduled.