India police fire tear gas at protest against Kolkata doctor’s rape, murder

Protesters are demanding the resignation of the top elected official in West Bengal state, where the crime took place.

Police have fired tear gas and water cannon, and used batons to break up protests over the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.

Protesting university students led the crowds in breaking through barricades set up by security forces to demand the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the state’s top elected official, for her handling of the case.

The August 9 rape and murder of the 31-year-old trainee medic while she was on duty at Kolkata’s state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital caused outrage and protests across India, shedding light on the pervasiveness of sexual violence in the country.

Some of the protesters demanding Banerjee’s resignation were from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition party to the chief minister’s Trinamool Congress party in the state.

Police had banned the BJP’s rally in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, deeming it illegal and blocking roads. Some schools and workplaces had given people the day off, in anticipation of the protests blocking traffic, local media reported.

Four student activists were arrested ahead of the rally, police said, accusing them of trying to orchestrate large-scale violence.

Namita Ghosh, a college student who attended the protest, told the AFP news agency that the crowd was demonstrating “peacefully” before the police chased them with batons.

Some 5,000 police officers were deployed in Kolkata and the neighbouring city of Howrah, a senior officer said.

Kunal Ghosh, a spokesman for the Trinamool Congress party, blamed the