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On Tuesday, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters advancing towards the state secretariat, prompting the state’s opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to call for a 12-hour strike across the state on Wednesday to protest against alleged police brutality.
On Wednesday, thousands of protesters, mostly BJP workers, blocked roads and railway tracks and forced shops to close, while authorities braced for more protests throughout the day.
A senior police officer said 5,000 police personnel have been deployed to quell violence across West Bengal.
Tuesday’s protesters, many of them university students, demanded the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a staunch opponent of Mr. Modi, over her handling of the Aug. 9 rape and murder of a 31-year-old doctor at a government hospital in the state capital of Kolkata.
The attack on the 31-year-old doctor has sparked nationwide outrage similar to the mass protests that followed the gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in New Delhi in 2012. Activists say women are still suffering severe levels of sexual violence despite tougher laws.
A police volunteer was arrested for the crime and federal police have taken over the investigation.
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