First they were sacked by a Supreme Court order that found the recruitment process of the Bengal government “tainted beyond redemption”. Then they received promises from the highest echelons of power that at best offered no concrete reassurance and at worst appeared misleading. Now they have been kicked, punched and hit with batons by police on the road for protesting.

Dismissed teaching and non-teaching staff who tried to storm the office of the district inspector (DI) of schools in Kasba on Wednesday faced the full might of police wrath.

Visuals from the protest site showed a police officer kicking an agitator and other cops wielding batons on protesters who had scaled a locked gate and broken through another.

Amid voices condemning police “excesses”, Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Verma said the action was “not desirable”. He also urged those who lost their jobs not to take the law into their hands.

The police have started two cases against unnamedindividuals.

Verma suggested that the police were attacked first. “We are viewing the entire footage. Our deputy commissioners are on the ground. They will submit a report. One part of the footage is being shown, not the full visual. Such action, as seen in the footage, is not desirable. But at the same time, we also need to consider under what circumstances the police were forced to do this,” Verma said.

He said six police personnel were injured in the attack, one of them “seriously”. A sergeant of Kasba police station is in hospital with a fracturedright leg.

Dhitesh Mandal, who had emceed an interaction of the sacked school staff with chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Monday, denied allegations that they attacked the police. Mandal was among those allegedly beaten up by the cops.

“We went to the DI’s office to press for our demand to protect the jobs of the untainted teachers. The way the police unleashed a brutal and barbaric attack is unimaginable. Is this the same government that on Monday promised to stand by us? We have started doubting their intent,” said Mandal, a spokesperson for the Deserving Teachers’ Rights Forum.

“We went to the DI office with bags and pens. How could we attack the police?” said another protester.

On April 3, the apex court had invalidated the appointment of 25,773 teachers and non-teaching staff in government-aided schools across Bengal.

On Monday, Mamata assured that her government was committed to protecting the jobs of all those the Supreme Court had deemed “not specifically tainted” while scrapping their appointments because of a “vitiated” recruitment process. However, the list of “not specifically tainted” candidates has not been published yet.

The aggrieved school staff had on Tuesday announced a programme to lock up all district school inspectors’ offices around Wednesday noon.

“Ours was a pre-announced programme,” Mandal said. “We informed the administration that we will lock the offices of the DIs till 4pm. Then we will leave. The police launched an attack on us without any provocation. How can they kick a teacher? First, we had to lose our jobs because of a botched recruitment process on the chief minister’s watch. Then they are kicking us to gag our protests. We hope good sense prevails on the government.”

A protester said they went to the DI’s Kasba office hoping to lock it up, but it was already locked.

Many scaled the office gate and tried to break open a collapsible gate when the police stopped them, resulting in a confrontation.

Kolkata Police said they were forced to use “mild force” to disperse the mob. “It is clarified that outside the Kasba DI office, an unruly mob launched an unprovoked and violent attack on police personnel. Four male and two female police personnel suffered injuries and are currently undergoing treatment. The police were compelled to use mild force to disperse the mob,” the police said.

Later on Wednesday, Verma appealed to those who lost their jobs to keep the police informed about their programmes.

“We have full sympathy towards them. We are requesting them to keep the police informed about their movements so that we can facilitate them. The state government’s briefing on this is very clear,” Verma said.

The police said no one expected this kind of “violence” at the DI office and, therefore, there was a small police posting at the spot initially. Reinforcements had to be called in when the protesters started to scale the locked gate.

Chief secretary Manoj Pant told the media that action had to be taken as public property was being destroyed and the police were attacked.

“Action has to be taken if public property is destroyed and if the police are attacked. Individuals can’t take law and order into their hands.... This situation has emerged due to someone’s conduct.”

Protester Mehboob Mandal, who had submitted a list of demands to Mamata on Monday, was among those allegedly thrashed by the police.

“How could the police attack unarmed teachers? This is triggering further anxiety. Instead of assuaging the concerns of the sacked teachers, the state government is heckling us,” said Mehboob.

After being driven away from the Kasba office, several protesters took to the Rashbehari Connector and started to march towards the Gariahat crossing, disrupting the evening traffic. The protesters cleared the road later in the evening and said they would be back at Shahid Minar on Thursday.

Several BJP MLAs rushed to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar and stationed themselves outside the entrance of the police compound to protest the police excess.

Nine BJP MLAs and a BJP leader who blocked the main entrance of Lalbazar and refused to move were arrested.