KOLKATA, India: Police in India fired teargas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of protesters marching in the eastern city of Kolkata on Tuesday to demand the resignation of a top state minister in the wake of a gruesome rape and murder of a trainee doctor.
Protesters led by university students broke through the iron barricades set up on the route of their march to the West Bengal state secretariat, television footage showed, resulting in a baton charge by the police, who had earlier declared the protest illegal.
The Aug. 9 attack on the 31-year-old doctor has caused nationwide outrage, similar to the widespread protests witnessed after a 2012 gang-rape of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi, with campaigners saying women continue to suffer from high levels of sexual violence despite tougher laws.
A police volunteer has been arrested for the crime and the federal police have taken over the investigation.
Junior doctors have refused to see non-emergency patients in many parts of the country since the incident at Kolkata’s state-run R.G. Kar Medical College, as they launched protests demanding justice for the victim and greater safety for women at hospitals.
India’s Supreme Court has created a hospital safety task force and has requested protesting doctors return to work, but some have refused to budge, including in West Bengal, of which Kolkata is the capital.
On Tuesday, more than 5,000 policemen were deployed in Kolkata and the neighboring city of Howrah, a senior officer said, as the protests led by some university students took off, demanding the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Kunal Ghosh, a spokesperson for Banerjee’s ruling Trinamool Congress Party, blamed the police crackdown on “lawlessness” created by workers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which is the main opposition party the state, as well as groups affiliated to it.
The BJP has extended its support to the protesting students, while senior state leader Suvendu Adhikari told reporters that Banerjee’s administration was trying to suppress the rape and murder incident — a charge the state government has denied.
Indian police fire teargas at hundreds protesting over Kolkata doctor’s rape, murder
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Indian police fire teargas at hundreds protesting over Kolkata doctor’s rape, murder
- Junior doctors have refused to see non-emergency patients in many parts of the country since the incident
- India’s Supreme Court has created a hospital safety task force and has requested protesting doctors return to work
UK starts visa requirements for St. Lucians
- Saint Lucia’s government said it was actively engaging with British government
- It said it would continue talks to “explore pathways for maintaining strong mobility arrangements“
CASTRIES: Britain has introduced a visa requirement for Saint Lucians effective from Thursday citing a “notable increase” in nationals from the small Caribbean nation claiming asylum, Saint Lucia’s government said in a statement.
Immigration is one of Britain’s most politically sensitive issues, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has sought to show it is tightening the system as the populist Reform UK party gains ground in opinion polls.
Saint Lucia, a former British colony, has a population of about 180,000. Last year, the World Bank estimated a net emigration of just 23 people.
Its government said it was actively engaging with British government and would continue talks to “explore pathways for maintaining strong mobility arrangements.”
It said it was informed in a letter dated Wednesday.
Saint Lucia is a member of the Commonwealth, an association of mostly former British colonies. Before the 1970s, nationals of many of these had the right to live and work in the UK. Saint Lucians previously needed a 16 pound Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) to travel to the UK. \
There will be a six-week transition for ETA holders, its government said.
On Tuesday, Britain said it would block study visas for Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan and halt work visas for Afghans.
