Bengal: Police foil twin protests by SFI and teaching job aspirants; several detained

Kolkata, Aug 19 (PTI) Two separate protests in Salt Lake near here on Tuesday — one by teaching job aspirants demanding recruitment in primary schools and another by the Students' Federation of India (SFI) over college classes and JEE results — were largely foiled as police moved in swiftly, detaining demonstrators even before the gatherings could gain momentum.

In both cases, police adopted an aggressive strategy of preventing protestors from assembling and detained leaders and supporters as soon as they arrived.

The teaching job aspirants, who had cleared the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) 2022, gathered near Karunamoyee Metro station to press for immediate recruitment into nearly 50,000 vacant posts in primary schools.

As they began their march towards APC Bhawan, the headquarters of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, police detained several demonstrators, eyewitnesses said.

Others who managed to dodge the security cordon were later bundled into buses. Traffic was briefly disrupted at the busy Karunamoyee crossing, they added.

"Our demand is simple — issue the notification for interviews and recruit us immediately," said one of the aspirants, adding that the chief minister's earlier assurance of jobs for all TET-qualified candidates had not been honoured.

Around the same time, SFI members attempted to march to Bikash Bhavan, the state education department headquarters, to submit a deputation on commencement of college classes, publication of Joint Entrance Examination results and withholding of MBBS BDS counselling.

However, before the protest could begin, SFI state committee member Subhajit Sarkar and leader Akash Kar were detained outside the building.

"We had called for a peaceful gathering, but before it even started the police detained us," Sarkar said while being taken away.

Many protestors complained that they were assaulted with one claiming that he sustained a head injury.

The main SFI procession, delayed by the crackdown, reached Bikash Bhavan later in the afternoon, sparking scuffles with police, who again detained several activists.

A heavy police contingent remained posted at both locations through the day, with officials making it clear that no permission had been granted for the demonstrations.

Later, SFI supporters staged a protest and raised slogans demanding the release of their members who had been detained by police. PTI BSM MNB