Fourteen persons, from two immersion processions, were arrested for allegedly beating up policemen in Mahishbathan, on the fringes of Salt Lake, and Lake Town early on Monday.

In Mahishbathan, 11 persons, including a civic police volunteer, were arrested for allegedly beating up policemen from the Electronics Complex police station in Sector V.

An officer of the Bidhannagar commissionerate said they had received a call from a traffic police outpost near the Technopolis building informing them that a group returning from a Kali idol immersion was holding a sit-in after a mini-truck hit one of them and fled.

“The men returning from the immersion blocked the main road that connects Sector V and Salt Lake. As traffic was building up near the protest site, close to the Technopolis building, a team was sent from the Electronics Complex police station. The protesters ignored pleas from our officers to move to one side of the road. This led to an altercation and the protesters started hitting the cops,” said the officer.

A large police contingent soon reached and arrested 11 persons. All were produced in a Salt Lake court and sent to judicial custody for three days.

Avijit Balloy and Avishek Mukherjee, the lawyers who represented the 11, told the court that “the police arrested them after beating them up on the road”.

“A man who went to the police station after hearing that some of his neighbours had been taken into custody was also arrested. The police team that reached the spot started raining blows and kicks on the men and women who were demonstrating peacefully.... The protesters held their ground even after being beaten up, leading to their arrest. The medical test reports of the policemen who were allegedly beaten up are yet to be submitted in the court,” Balloy said in the court.

The public prosecutor said all the 11 arrested were present at the “place of occurrence” in Mahishbathan and opposed the bail pleas moved by Balloy.

The additional chief judicial magistrate sent the 11 to judicial custody for three days.

In Lake Town, three men were arrested for allegedly hitting policemen who had gone to stop the fight that broke out among members of a club who were on their way to an immersion ghat near the Sreebhumi bus stop, off VIP Road.

The police identified the accused as Loknath Ghosh, Ravi Thakur and Deep Paik. They have been sent to judicial custody for three days.