GUWAHATI, Nov 4 � Police today resorted to lathi-charge and firing of tear gas shells for dispersing hundreds of agitators who had gathered under the banner of the Shiksha Mitra Santha, Asom, at the Veterinary College playground at Khanapara as part of their �Dispur Chalo� programme seeking redressal of their grievances.
The Santha claimed 20 of its agitators were injured in the lathicharge, necessitating their admission in hospital.
While the agitators maintained that the police action was totally unwarranted as they were making a peaceful demonstration, police said that it was compelled to resort to lathicharge to control the demonstrators that had become unruly.
The incident occurred around 12-30 pm after hundreds of agitators had assembled at the ground demanding regularization of their services and redressal of other grievances. The agitators came from different parts of the State.
Police said that the Santha did not have permission to stage the demonstration. A Santha official, however, said that it had sough permission for the purpose but that was turned down by the district administration for reasons best known to it.
�Today�s uncalled-for police brutality has made us more determined to press for our legitimate demands and we will go for a vigorous mass stir,� a Santha official said. He said that regularization of the services of the Shiksha Mitras was a must, as they had been languishing with a meagre stipend for years.
The Santha will resort to a fast-unto-death programme at Dispur on November 7.
The BJP also decried the police action on unarmed protesters. In a statement, BJP Assam Pradesh spokesperson Dr Pradip Thakuria said that the State Government had failed to redress the genuine grievances of the agitating teachers which forced them to take to the streets. �Attack on peaceful demonstrators can never be acceptable in a civilized society,� Dr Thakuria said.
