Farmers angry over plans to build an industrial park ontheir land have torched a government office, a day after police firing inNandigram in the estern Indian state of
Police responded with baton-charges and tear gas onThursday, dispersing protesters who quickly regrouped elsewhere.
On Wednesday, police had opened fire on thousands of farmerswho were attacking officers with rocks, machetes and pickaxes. Eleven of thoseshot died immediately or soon after, and another three succumbed to theirinjuries overnight, said senior police officer Raj Kanojia.
No deaths or injuries were reported on Thursday.
On Thursday, about 2,000 farmers gathered outside a hospital where thoseinjured on Wednesday were being treated. They chanted angry slogans,marched towards a local government office and set fire to the building,witnesses said.
One witness, villager Abdus Samad, said police fired teargas when people assembled near the administrative office.
Outrage
Wednesday's shootings prompted widespread outrageacross
"The thought uppermost on my mind, and that of allsensitive people is, 'Was this spilling of human blood not avoidable?"'said Gopal Krishna Gandhi,
In New Delhi, members of parliament from the oppositionBharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena, two right-wing Hindu nationalistgroups, shouted, "Communists are murderers" - a reference to thecommunist parties that have ruled West Bengal for more than three decades.
Meanwhile, the High Court in
The trouble in Nandigram first erupted on January 7 afterthe leak of the government plan to acquire 9,000 hectares of land in the area,and to build a petrochemical plant and shipyard.
Source:Agencies
