The rage over the August 9 rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital is breaking new barricades. The city’s top football clubs have dissolved their celebrated rivalries to make common cause in calling for swift justice for the 31-year-old victim and her family.

Thousands of Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting supporters held a rally in front of the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday, completely blockading the stretch between the Beleghata crossing on EM Bypass and the southern end of the VIP Road flyover for over four hours.

Protesters had begun gathering in front of the stadium’s VIP gate from 3.30pm. The blockade of EM Bypass started an hour later, continuing in phases as fresh groups took the place of those removed by the police.

Both flanks of the bypass were cleared by 8.45pm, after which vehicles started plying again.

Angry protesters — most of them in their club jerseys — shouted slogans demanding justice for the murdered junior doctor and asking why only one person had been
arrested till now.

Several more marches were held across the city with the same demand. Junior doctors and Tollywood personalities hit the roads with two separate marches.

The police summoned several people, including Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray and two doctors, for allegedly spreading misinformation about the probe.

Late on Sunday, the police arrested two persons, Rakesh Pal and Sheikh Salman, on the charge of causing violence outside the stadium.

Many of the protesters gathered outside the Salt Lake Stadium would have in happier circumstances been watching the Durand Cup derby between East Bengal and Mohun Bagan on Sunday evening. But the match was called off on Saturday lest fans break out in protest against the RG Kar brutality, causing law-and-order problems inside the stadium.

Supporters of both clubs had earlier given a call to publicly demand justice inside the stadium.

Many who had gathered outside the stadium on Sunday said they had come despite knowing that the match had been cancelled. “We have assembled for just one reason — justice for her,” a Beleghata resident said.

Software engineer and Mohun Bagan fan Souvik Sen, who lives in Baguiati, said he had come because he could not sit back and enjoy a “normal Sunday” in the aftermath of the rape and murder.

“We too have female colleagues. It’s appalling that a young woman doing her shift had to endure such brutality,” Sen said.

Uma Mandal, a homemaker from Barasat who carried a huge East Bengal flag, said: “I have two sons; one of them plays football. I decided to come because this was a crime of the worst kind and the investigation seems to be going nowhere.”

Football fans who had thronged outside the stadium’s VIP gate around 3.30pm were told by officers of the Bidhannagar Commissionerate to move away as assemblies of more than three people had been banned in the neighbourhood for Sunday
afternoon.

While announcing the ban at a news conference sometime earlier, Bidhnanagar police had shared audio clips that suggested possible violence with “gas bombs” and “acid bombs” at Sunday’s gathering. One of the clips mentions a planned “armed attack”.

The crowd then moved towards the Hyatt crossing and began a vigil.

The police barricaded the Building More crossing on EM Bypass near the SAI Complex against vehicles. As the crowd of protesters swelled, the police pushed them back
and drove them towards the Duttabad crossing.

As more protesters joined in after 4pm, teams from Bidhannagar police and Kolkata Police joined hands to control the crowd. Sources said that though the area was under the Bidhannagar police’s authority, an alert had been sounded across city police stations that share their boundaries with Salt Lake. The police charged at the protesters at least three times.

Joint commissioners of Kolkata Police were seen making announcements with loudhailers to disperse the mob.

BJP politician and All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey, who visited the spot, said the game of football was beyond politics.

“It is sad that football supporters are being apprehended by the police,” he said.