Army withdraws from central Kolkata

The army was withdrawn from violence-hit central Kolkata on Friday afternoon after the restoration of normal life in the area.

"All the four columns of the army which had been deployed, have been withdrawn after the restoration of peace and normalcy in central Kolkata," West Bengal home secretary P R Roy said.

The army had been called out to stage a flag march on the streets of central Kolkata covering five police station areas on Wednesday after large-scale violence during a three-hour shutdown called by the All India Minority Forum. The AIMF was demanding the cancellation of the visa of controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen and to protest against the Nandigram violence.

The violence had led to the clamping of an eight-hour night curfew in the area on Wednesday, which was lifted following improvement in the situation.

City police commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakraborty said the city remained peaceful for the second day on Friday as the army conducted joint patrolling with police in area.

Four columns of the army conducted a flag march and joint patrolling with city police at Moulali, Mullickbazar, Ripon Street, Park Circus, Topsia, Beniapukur and adjacent areas throughout on Thursday night, Chakraborty said.

"As no incident of violence was reported from the areas since Thursday, the army was kept on stand by. The city police reviewed the entire situation and apprised the state government of it," he said.