Bhangar, Jan. 18: No violence was reported today in Bhangar, where land protesters clashed with police over a power substation yesterday, with several officials linking the calm to the absence of cops in the area.
Months-long protests over land acquisition for the substation and more compensation had snowballed yesterday after law-enforcers allegedly damaged houses, shops and vehicles during a raid to pick up "outsiders" suspected of fomenting trouble. Two persons died during a clash between the police and the protesters.
Nabanna sources said a plan to steer clear of the villages of Khamarait, Natunhat Bazar, Gajipur, Shyamnagar and Polerhat had been discussed last night, but the police were withdrawn following a meeting between chief minister Mamata Banerjee and CID additional director-general Rajesh Kumar at Bhabani Bhavan this morning.
"The chief minister did not want any police action in the area. It could have sparked fresh trouble. So the police personnel were withdrawn and kept at a distance," a CID source said.
A large contingent of police personnel armed with water cannons was approaching Bhangar this morning when villagers stopped it at Natunhat Bazar. The villagers asked the officers leading the contingent why the police had been sent again. When the officers tried to explain that the force had been sent to maintain peace, the restive villagers asked why the water cannons had been brought.
The officers' reply failed to satisfy the villagers and they told the personnel to leave.
Trinamul leaders too stayed away from Bhangar today. Yesterday, the protesters had stopped minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah and MP Mukul Roy from entering the area.
Around 1.30pm today, Roy, Rajarhat-New Town MLA Sabyasachi Dutta and 300-odd Trinamul supporters were stopped 3km from Natunhat Bazar by villagers who had put up a roadblock using tree trunks and bricks.
Roy and Dutta spent nearly an hour at a party worker's house, enquiring about the strength of the protesters. When they came to know that around 2,000 villagers had assembled on the Lauhati-Haroa Road in the vicinity, they decided to return.
Mosharraf Hossain, a member of the Save Land, Livelihood, House and Environment Committee that is organising the protests, said the leaders would have faced resistance had they entered Bhangar.
The two persons who died of bullet injuries yesterday have been identified as Mofizul Khan and Alamgir Mollah. The protesters claim the duo died in police firing, an allegation the law-enforcers have denied.
"Whatever be the reason behind the deaths, loss of lives during an anti-land acquisition protest is an embarrassment for the government. Moreover, as the mood in the villages was against the police, the force didn't enter the area today," a home department official said.
When this correspondent visited Bhangar, the scenes resembled those during the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram in 2007. Large parts of Nandigram had been out of bounds for the police for over three months as villagers had dug up roads and put up blockades to prevent police vehicles from entering.
In Bhangar too, the protesters have placed logs and bricks on roads to stop police vehicles from moving in. Youths are keeping a watch on those entering the area. A small gathering was seen in front of the power substation's main gate.
Many residents roamed the villages with police uniforms tied to bamboo poles.
"We chased away the police yesterday. They were so scared that they took off their uniforms so that they could not be identified. Here are the uniforms," said a villager who had tied a khaki police shirt and a cap to a bamboo pole.
Some Trinamul supporters, however, said the villagers had got the "spare" uniforms from the police vehicles they vandalised yesterday.
