Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in Barrackpore in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Monday started observing a 12-hour strike from 6 am in protest against the police for baton-charging party workers in Kankinara on Sunday, Anandabazar Patrika reported.

There were reports of protests, road blockades and clashes with the police and the ruling Trinamool Congress. The saffron party was accused of forcibly closing a number of shops in Barrackpore and surrounding areas. Traffic on the Kalyani expressway, the Naihati-Chuchura ferry service and train services were disrupted. In the morning, supporters of the saffron party blocked train services at Kankinara station for close to half an hour, reported Ei Samay.

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On Sunday, the BJP MP from Barrackpore, Arjun Singh, accused Barrackpore Police Commissioner Manoj Verma of striking him on the head, and causing him to bleed. The parliamentarian, wearing a blood-soaked shirt and a bandage on his head, accused the police of attacking BJP workers peacefully protesting against the alleged capture of its office in Shyamnagar town by the Trinamool Congress.

An unidentified police officer alleged that BJP workers threw stones at the police, and the Trinamool Congress accused Singh of making false allegations against Manoj Verma.

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