The general strike called by the Forward Bloc, one of the key allies of the CPI(M)-led Front government over the killing of five party supporters by the police at Dinhata in North Bengal on Tuesday, shut schools, offices and businesses while protesters stopped trains and buses across Bengal.

As Bloc supporters resorted to stoning buses and vehicles besides intimidating officials in government offices to enforce the bundh, police resorted to mild baton charge at several places to restore law and order. The police has arrested nearly 700 protesters, Inspector General (law and order) Raj Kanoria told newsmen at the state secretariat here.

Police on Tuesday opened fire on a rally of Bloc supporters who were demanding work under a Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and cancellation of plans to set up industry on farmland. At least five Bloc activists were killed and eight injured. One National Volunteer Force succumbed to bullet injuries in the hospital.

The Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh who described the police firing as one of the worst crises the Front ever faced in its 30 years of rule, said the LF government ought to “learn a lesson” from this incident.

“We’ve been forced to call a 24-hour bundh which we have pared down to 12 hour,” he said. Even as a Bloc leader and Front minister joined supporters in blocking railway traffic near a level crossing at Uluberia, the secretary declined to demand a CBI or a judicial inquiry into the Dinhata firing.

“All we want is to ensure that no third Nandigram takes place in this Left ruled (state),” he said. When asked how he could, as a minister, obstruct trains, the Ghosh  replied: “I am protesting here as a Forward Bloc leader and not as a minister. The Front was formed to serve the cause of the poor.”

The arrested include Bloc legislator of Barasat Beethika Mandal and city councillor Jhuma Dasgupta.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee who expressed his regret over the police firing has ordered a magisterial inquiry.