KOLKATA: Within the lifeless of the night time at 3.45 am on Tuesday, docs who had been at a sit-in demonstration on BB Ganguly Road stood up and started singing the National Anthem. Some 300 policemen who had been additionally current stood up as nicely and joined them. Although everybody stands each time ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is sung, the sight of protesters and cops becoming a member of the refrain was nonetheless distinctive.In hindsight, it may have even been the watershed second that broke the ice between the 2 adversarial teams.
In the course of the 24-hour protest, a 9-ft excessive metal barricade separated the cops and the protesting docs. However they did alternate pleasantries with the docs repeatedly assuring the police that this was their battle for justice and never a private “us vs them” battle.
Half an hour after the Nationwide Anthem was sung, the police obtained busy taking pictures of a boy aged round 10-12 who joined the protest with a poster that said, “My didi is but to get justice”. Cops additionally supplied goodies to the child when he reached out to “police uncles” by means of the iron grilles.
What initially began with occasional jibes geared toward cops together with one to “get a spine” subtly modified by dawn.
The reaching out course of on behalf of the junior docs numbering round 800-1,000 with 180 odd protesters staying proper close to the barricade started as early as 2 am when a number of docs enquired if the cops wanted water and refreshments. The cops stated that they had their shares and as an alternative supplied meals packets and water to the juniors. The docs declined however the ice was damaged.
All by means of the interactions between cops and the junior docs – the cops principally represented by Rupesh Kumar, joint CP (Site visitors) – the language remained courteous. “I used to be shocked once they stored utilizing the phrase ‘request’ for each demand they made,” stated a cop current on the protest website all by means of the night time.
The mutual understanding was much more evident on Tuesday morning once they opened up Bentinck Road for site visitors motion for a number of hours. The Dalhousie routes too had been reopened to site visitors with solely BB Ganguly Road being caught for site visitors.
“We had put up the barricades fearing outdoors interference and as anticipated college students from Jadavpur College and RBU joined in. However as soon as it grew to become clear that they’d not be breaching the barricade, we determined to consider shifting the barricade and likewise begin site visitors movement round Lalbazar,” stated an officer.
