Soldiers deployed to quell riots in east Indian city of Calcutta

[Robbien]

Source: AP

CALCUTTA (AP) - Soldiers were deployed in Calcutta and police imposed a curfew to try to quell riots that erupted in the east Indian city to protest alleged government brutality, officials and witnesses said.

. . .

The protesters accuse Communist Party-backed gangs of killing villagers.

The state has been in turmoil since the government announced plans last year to build a special economic zone, including a shipyard and a petrochemical plant, on 8,900 hectares (22,000 acres) of farm land in Nandigram district.

Violent protests by farmers, who felt they were being forced to sell their land at cheap rates, eventually led to the plan being canceled in March and state police withdrew from the area.

But violence has persisted and on Wednesday demonstrators accused the Communist Party of using gangs to try and seize back the district and of killing members of the local farmers' Land Acquisition Resistance Committee who had opposed them.

Read more: http://www.pr-inside.com/soldiers-deployed-to-quell-riots-in-r312795.htm

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Another area in the world using government supported death squads.

[David__77]

1. In West Bengal there are many communist factions on both sides of this.

The Communist Party (Marxist) is the ruling party in this state. Another party, the original Communist Party is a smaller group that is allied with them but somewhat critical of the actions in Nandigram. The Communist Party (Maoist) is an armed group with 30,000 guerrillas spread through eastern and southern India, controlling some tribal regions. Its presence is limited in West Bengal, though that is the source of Indian Maoism. The Communist Party (Marxist) accuses the Communist Party (Maoist) is stirring the peasants of Nandigram up and being behind the "provocation" that the police responded to (with massacre).