The police, on Monday, trained its water cannon on a group of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) activists who attempted to march to the State Assembly in protest against the Budget proposal to increase the pension age of State government employees to 56.
The DYFI activists toppled the barricades placed by the police on the road leading to the Assembly complex. They rushed the anti-riot policemen, who pushed the protesters back. A policeman sounded a warning note on his trumpet, and the water cannon unleashed jets of pressurised water on the protesters.
The drenched protesters withdrew from the cannon's range and sat on the road for nearly an hour. The protest caused traffic to move at a snail's pace in the city for an hour in the afternoon. Subsequently, the protesters courted arrest peacefully. They were taken to the local station and released on bail.
The police have registered a case of rioting, unlawful assembly, and disobeying the directions of the police against 30 “yet-to-be-named” protesters in connection with the incident.
