10 cops injured in Bengal bandh violence

At least 10 policemen were injured, six police vehicles torched, buses attacked and crude bombs recovered from a rail track in the nick of time as parts of Bengal lapsed into violence during Bharat Bandh, called by the Left and Congress-backed central trade unions against the Union government's "anti-people policies." Although both CPM and Congress functionaries claimed the bandh was "peaceful and total" throughout the district, hundreds of CPM and Congress supporters had assembled on the highway and refused to budge, stalling traffic all along the route. When persuasion didn't work, the police allegedly resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesters. They retaliated with a shower of stones and a bricks that left 10 of the police personnel injured.