Scores of slogan-shouting BJP workers besides party legislators and parliamentarians, carrying placards and party flags, started their march from Khanapara area in the city. (PTI photo)
Police fired rubber bullets in the air, burst tear gas shells and detained BJP leaders and workers as they tried to march to Assam Assembly in Dispur today for
staging a protest against the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government.
Police claimed the protesters had violated the law they had not been given permission to stage the protest march.
Scores of slogan-shouting BJP workers besides party legislators and parliamentarians, carrying placards and party flags, started their march from Khanapara area in the city.
The protests come after
six legislators from the BJP and nine from Congress, who had recently declared their allegiance to the opposition party, were suspended by the Assembly Speaker for the five-day Winter session for disorderly conduct.
"An Emergency-like situation has been created by the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government here. The police is acting as an agent of the Congress to prevent a democratic movement," Assam BJP chief Prabhari Mahendra Singh said.
Himanata Biswa Sarma, who recently deflected to the BJP from the Congress, was leading the march as protesters broke barricades.
Meanwhile, the BJP workers in various districts who were allegedly prevented from coming to the capital city to participate in the march registered their protest locally by squatting on the roads and blocking highways, according to police and party sources.