Cong Odisha Assembly gherao turns violent; 15 cops, many protesters hurt

THE Odisha Assembly gherao programme of Congress, the first big show under newly-appointed state unit chief Bhakta Charan Das, turned violent as party activists clashed with police, leaving 15 on-duty cops and many protesters injured here on Thursday.

- ASISH MEHTA @Bhubaneswar

For an hour, Mahatma Gandhi Marg, the road leading to the state Assembly, turned into a battlefield as hundreds of Congress workers resorted to stone pelting and hurled chairs after breaking the security barricades prompting a baton-charge by a huge posse of policemen.

Police used water cannons before firing teargas shells to disperse the agitators who were making an attempt to scale the barricades and proceed towards the Assembly which is currently in session. With the situation getting chaotic, police took the Pradesh Congress Committee president Das, state-in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu, MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Md Moquim into preventive custody. All of them were later released.