Violence broke out on Kolkata’s streets for the second time this week after protestors and police clashed during a march on Thursday. Police resorted to using teargas shells, water cannons and batons against Bharatiya Janata Party workers who were staging a protest march to the police headquarters in the Lalbazar area, NDTV reported. Several police personnel, party workers and journalists were injured during the incident.

The BJP workers were protesting against several matters including the alleged “false cases” being filed against members of their party and the police’s “failure” to arrest Kolkata’s controversial Imam Maulana Nurur Rehman Barkati for alleged anti-national statements.

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Senior BJP workers, including National General Secretary Kailash Vijayavargiya and president of the party’s state unit, Dilip Ghosh, were arrested during the incident, The Hindu reported. Actor and BJP leader Locket Chatterjee was admitted to the hospital after he sustained injuries during the clash. “We plan peaceful rallies. But if the police fail to manage them peacefully, that is their problem,” Ghosh told NDTV.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of triggering the violence. “There is no violence, it is the BJP, they started the violence. And the Communist Party of India (Marxist). See how they have beaten the police personnel including women and burnt government properties,” she said.

On May 22, around 170 people were reportedly injured in clashes during a protest march organised by the Left Front. The protests staged by the All India Kisan Sabha – the Communist Party of India’s (Marxist) farmers’ wing – and other Left factions – were against several issues including alleged corruption in the Mamata Banerjee-led government. The police had used tear-gas shells, water cannons against the agitators to break up the rally.