HINDUSTAN STANDARD, JULY 10, 1971
DEMONSTRATION BEFORE US CONSULATE
By A Staff Reporter
Resenting arms shipment by the USA to Pakistan, groups of artistes from Bangladesh students and women followed one another in protest demonstrations before the US Consulate in Calcutta on Friday.
The March by the youth and the students wing of 24 Parganas DCC (O) was hailed unexpectedly in front of the Russian Consulate. They had gone there to present a memorandum to the USSR consul General.
They were stopped before the entrance of the Consulate. An official of the Consulate refused to accept the memorandum. The demonstrators hung it on the wall of the building.
When they were about to proceed for the US Consulate a police vehicle came. Mr. Ashim Chatterjee, vice- President of the West Bengal Chattra Parishad (of Congress-O), complained that some policemen jumped out of the vehicle and started wielding lathis on them without provocation.
Demanding punishment for the policemen the demonstrators sat down on the road blocking traffic. The Congress (0) leaders. Dr. Pratap Chandra Chunder and Mr. Ashoke Krishna Dutta, however, asked the demonstrators to disperse as a mark of respect to the Congress (0) leader who had been stabbed to death in Howrah earlier in the day. The demonstrators left the place.
Earlier in the morning a group of film artistes and technical’s who had crossed over to India from Bangladesh marched in protest to the US Consulate. In a memorandum handed over to the officials of the Consulate the demonstrators urged the USA to stop supplying arms to Pakistan and not to become a party to genocide in Bangladesh.
In the evening several hundred of women led by Mrs. Purabi Mukherjee MP (Congress-R), Mrs. Gita Mukherjee (CPI), Mrs. Renuka Ray (Congress-R) demonstrated in front of the US Consulate in protest against the US arms supply to Pakistan.
The demonstration was organized by the Bangladesh Mukti Sangram Sahayak Samity. In a memorandum handed over to the US Consul General Mr. Herbert Gordon, the demonstrators urged the US President to stop all aid to Pakistan and to his good offices to bring about a political settlement in Bangladesh with the elected representative led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The memorandum also asked the USA – to back the arms now on way to Pakistan.
Mrs. Renuka Ray, Chairman and Mrs. Mira Dattagupta, Convener, handed over the memorandum to the US Consul General. Mr. Gordon assured the delegates that he would communicate the matter to the US President.