A burnt watchtower at the Tata Motors project site. Picture by Krishna Chandra Mishra

Singur, May 25: Trinamul Congress supporters attacked police guarding the Tata Motors plant site here today and hurled burning bundles of cloth at two watchtowers inside the boundary wall, setting them ablaze.

The guards fired 10 tear gas shells to disperse them.

“Several constables were injured by brickbats hurled at them. One of the constables has a cracked skull. But we did not allow the mob to damage the boundary wall, which was their aim,” Hooghly superintendent of police Rajeev Mishra said.

The attack, with brooms, sticks and burning pieces of cloth, was launched hours before Mamata Banerjee arrived here to address a rally on the second anniversary of the launch of the Trinamul Congress-led Save Farmland Committee’s movement against land acquisition.

Exactly two years ago, around 1,000 villagers had stopped a Tata Motors team that had driven to Bajemelia for a survey of the land. The mob had surrounded the car for 40 minutes and shouted slogans saying they would give blood rather than their land.

Some villagers of Bosepukur said they had planned the attack to observe the anniversary.

At 12.30pm, some 200 people, including women, charged towards the wall.

As policemen came out of small openings in the wall and took position in front, the villagers started pelting them with brickbats.

“We still feel that the land where the factory is coming up is ours. We will break the wall any day,” thundered a broom-wielding Malati Malik of Bosepukur.

After the police burst the first few tear gas shells, some villagers hurled the burning bundles of cloth on the tarpaulin sheds of the watchtowers. “The tarpaulin sheet on one of the towers was burnt. It flew to the ground, where we poured buckets of water to douse the fire. Buckets of water were also taken up the second watchtower and the flames doused,” a police officer said.

After the villagers set fire to the watchtowers, the police fired more tear gas shells and the villagers retreated to a safe distance.

In her rally at Kamarkundu station, Mamata, mellower after the rural polls, called the attack a “stray” incident.

“It was carried out by a small section of villagers. However, the police should have tried to pacify the mob instead of firing tear gas shells at them,” she said.