A police vehicle was ransacked and six cops injured when a group of people, mostly women, clashed in Arambagh on Tuesday with cops to protest the reopening of a burning ghat shut 30 years ago to cremate Covid bodies.

The police arrested 14 persons, 13 of whom were women, and slapped non-bailable sections under the disaster management act on them for using force to deter public servants from performing their duty.

“There was no reason to protest as it is an isolated place. But residents, instigated by a group, blocked the state highway on Tuesday. They attacked the police who went for talks with them,” said an officer.

Trinamul leaders blamed the BJP for instigating Tuesday’s protest. “The BJP is fanning panic among residents,” said Rajesh Chowdhury, a member of the board of administrators in Arambagh municipality. Biman Ghosh, the BJP president in Arambagh, denied the allegation and said the Trinamul-run civic body had failed to manage the pandemic.