While protesters carrying saffron flags were engaged in a pitched battle with police in a busy commercial pocket on Tuesday afternoon, traders in the area feared that the clash could spiral into a larger melee and hurt business during the festive season.

The confrontation was brought under control within about an hour and remained confined to a small pocket near the Bangladesh deputy high commission, not spreading beyond Beckbagan.

“Business was affected, but for a short while,” said Ravinder Agarwal, who runs an electrical equipment store on AJC Bose Road in Beckbagan, outside the barricaded zone.

“Some customers who had scheduled visits called to cancel after watching the visuals on television. Finding porter vans was also difficult in the afternoon, and a few deliveries were delayed. Other than that, there was no major impact.”

Many traders thanked the police for preventing a bigger flare-up.

“I had multiple deliveries lined up, and the TV visuals were worrying,” said the manager of a dry fruits store on Sarat Bose Road near the Minto Park crossing. “Around 2.15pm, some protesters, chased by police, ran along the Exide-bound flank of AJC Bose Road. We feared more would follow, but that didn’t happen.”

An employee at another Minto Park store, an old favourite for lamp shades, said Tuesday unfolded like “any other weekday afternoon” for them. “Traffic was choked for some time, but that has been happening for a couple of days now. Customers came as usual, though a few mentioned being delayed on the road,” he said.

On Monday, Bengal’s leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, led a rally to the Bangladesh deputy high commission demanding justice for Dipu Das, the Hindu man killed in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. On Tuesday, another rally organised by a group of Hindutva organisations attempted to march to the same location. When protesters broke through a section of police barricades, the cops resorted to a lathi charge to disperse the crowd.

The disruption also affected patients travelling to and from an OPD unit of the Institute of Neurosciences Kolkata, located at 10 West Range Road, opposite the deputy high commission.

“The road was completely blocked for a period,” said a hospital spokesperson. “Several patients were stranded en route and reached much later than scheduled. Some others were unable to leave the unit on time.”