Clash between police, protesting teachers outside Bengal education HQ; several injured

The area around Bikash Bhavan, the headquarters of the West Bengal Education Department in Salt Lake, turned into a virtual battlefield on Thursday evening, 16 May, after a series of violent clashes broke out between protesting school teachers and police.

Many teachers, including several women, were injured in police action, which persisted for over an hour, eyewitnesses said.

Some protestors seen bleeding from various body parts, including from their heads, they added.

The teachers, who lost their jobs following a court order last month that cancelled thousands of appointments in government-aided schools due to irregularities in the recruitment process, had been staging a sit-in demonstration in front of the education department headquarters since afternoon, demanding reinstatement.

Claiming that five agitators were seriously injured and around 100 suffered minor injuries, one of the protestors, Mehboob Mondal, said they would continue to stage blockades in front of Bikash Bhavan from Friday.

He called on civil society to take to the streets across the state in protest against "police high-handedness on the architects of future generation".

Hundreds of teachers, victims of the West Bengal job scam, marched to #bikashBhavan demanding their rightful jobs. Their protest was met with lathi-charge by the police while they were trying to enter forcefully. Many are injured. #WestBengalJobScam pic.twitter.com/XvVlYrk2DB

— Somit Sengupta (@somit_123_com) May 15, 2025

"We will not sit for a fresh exam. Our demand is clear — our jobs must be restored. We will not leave until the chief minister herself speaks to us," Mondal added.

Just before police swung into action, Mondal said, "Even if police rain bullets, we will not move. This government is trying to legitimise the recruitment of 'tainted' teachers by excluding us from the review petition process. They are not taking us into confidence."

Police allegedly resorted to lathi-charge to remove the agitators, who laid siege before the government building.

A number of police personnel were also injured in the violence and some of them had to be carried out of the area by their colleagues.

Tensions escalated around 8 pm when additional police forces were deployed, and an attempt was made to disperse the demonstrators using batons, a police officer said.

Deputy commissioner of police (Bidhannagar) Anish Sarkar later told reporters that despite repeated pleas by police since 6 pm, the demonstrators refused to provide safe passage to around 300 education department employees who were stranded inside Bikash Bhavan.

"There were many women and ailing persons among the stranded employees who needed immediate medical attention, but the teachers vowed to continue their protest inside the building," he added.

Slogans like 'Go back', 'Chor Chor' (thieves) and 'Dhikkar Dhikkar' rent the air as police personnel took position before the action.

During the day, the agitating teachers demanded an urgent dialogue with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Three women teachers from a district school, all members of the Deserving Teachers’ Rights Forum, told PTI, "Only she can resolve the situation and save our jobs."

"Why were we excluded from the review petition filed by the SSC in the Supreme Court? Why are we being kept out of the discussion process regarding the upcoming petition the state plans to file in the SC? The sole reason is that this government is trying to shield tainted teachers who secured jobs through corrupt means by manipulating OMR sheets," Rabiul Islam, a teacher at Barasat Aswini High School, told PTI.

Physical science teacher of a Nadia school, Amitava Kundu, and a teacher of Sagar Mahamuni Kapil Vidyamandir High School, Sanjib Khamko, echoed him.

Several protestors were seen getting dragged by their collars from inside the building premises and shoved into police vehicles where they were detained.

Scenes of agitators engaging in fistfights with police and hurling guard rails in groups over multiple times were also witnessed.

A significantly large police mobilisation, aided by Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel, used force to disperse the protestors from inside the government building whose gates the teachers had breached in the afternoon to enter in large numbers and put up a blockade.

Earlier in the day, some protestors reportedly broke open a gate and entered the premises of Bikash Bhavan, triggering chaos.

"First, they take away our jobs by resorting to institutional corruption. Then they unleash their police force on us to spill our blood," said Suman Biswas, another teacher whose shirt was all torn from the scuffle.

Biswas had sat for an indefinite fast outside WBSSC headquarters from April 18-20 demanding segregation of list of tainted and untainted on WBSSC website.

Asked how many agitators were injured, he said "scores, we are still counting."

One of the injured, Amitava Biswas from North 24 Parganas, was seen writhing in pain on a footpath. "I was standing inside the Bikash Bhavan compound when suddenly a cop came and hit me repeatedly with a stick, he claimed.

"We used minimum force to disperse the crowd," a police officer said.