Teachers-Police Clash; Some Injured; Many Arrested
Patna: May 6, 2008
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Teachers-Police Clash
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Photo by Shashi Uttam |
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The police in Patna on Tuesday resorted to lathi charge after hundreds of unaided teachers under the banner of Bihar Unaided Educational Institutions Employees' Union tried to break the police cordon and enter the Assembly building to press for their demands.
The protest that included more than 1,500 unaided teachers began at Harding Park. At around 2:40 pm, the crowd moved to the R-Block where it tried to break the police barricade and enter the state Assembly premises. At that moment DSP Sridhar Mandal, who happened to be passing by, stopped and tried to reason with the union leaders. When the protestors ignored his warnings, the DSP summoned police reinforcement and ordered using force on them.
Other senior law enforcement officials also joined the battle and chased the protestors out of the Assembly premises.
Shortly after 3:00 pm, anti-riot vehicles arrived at the R-Block followed by water canon gears that fired shots at the crowd effectively putting them in a retreat mode.
At least a dozen protestors were hurt in the melee and over 50 others were taken into police custody.
The teachers are now planning to have a 'black armband' protest on Wednesday against police lathi charge on them.
It may be recalled that on March 31, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced the scrapping of the age-old unaided education policy in the state and put in place a wide-ranging policy to benefit the teachers.
After some initial euphoria, the new policy, however, was rejected by the teachers' union who called it too little, a too late.
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