Lalgarh The Red Fort

The agitation against alleged police excesses by pre-dominantly tribal villagers continued on Sunday. Fresh roadblocks were put up further isolating the Lalgarh area — a region where the Maoists have a strong presence — from the rest of West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district.
The more than week-long protests, over alleged police excesses during raids to track down those responsible for the IED blast that narrowly missed Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy on November 2, had spread to new areas.
Leaders of different tribal groups formed a committee to resist such “atrocities” on local people. The situation in some other parts of Jhargram sub-division, where trees were felled to set up roadblocks, remained largely unchanged. Roads leading to different parts of Lalgarh had been dug up to prevent police movement.
Members of a tribal students’ group staged a demonstration on National Highway 6 that links Kolkata with Mumbai at Lodhashuli. A large number of vehicles were stranded as a result. Several trains were detained at various places, some were rescheduled and a few cancelled following squatting on the tracks by supporters of the Jharkhand Disam Party that had called a 12-hour bandh in support of its demands.
Action against those in the police administration responsible for the excesses in the Lalgarh area was the major demand. The bandh evoked a partial response in parts of Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia districts.