Date:10/04/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/10/stories/2008041055791200.htm

National

Violence in Darjeeling; GJM clashes with police

Special Correspondent

Kolkata: Violence flared up in the foothills of West Bengal’s Darjeeling district near Siliguri when supporters of the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) clashed with the police while trying to enter the town on Wednesday.

The GJM leadership is demanding a Gorkhaland state to be carved out of the hills and certain areas contiguous to it that include Siliguri.

GJM workers accompanying a procession led by the All Gorkha Ex-Servicemen Morcha, which is also supporting the Gorkhaland demand, broke through a barricade and tried to march on into Siliguri when the police prevented them from doing so.

The police who were attacked with bricks burst teargas shells after a baton-charge failed to disperse them, Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said here.

Several persons were injured in the clash. Fifteen persons were arrested.

The local administration had refused permission to the GJM to take out a procession in Siliguri on the ground that if allowed it could lead to a clash between communities, a district official said. Leaders of the GJM claimed that their supporters had “every right to bring out a peaceful procession there.”

The GJM leadership condemned the police action on their workers and called a 24-hour bandh in Darjeeling district on Thursday in protest against it. A bandh has also been called by the Kamtapur Progressive Party and supported by the Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party. These parties are also demanding a separate State to be carved out of districts in north Bengal and parts of Assam.