Midnight crowd tsunami swamps Park street as Kolkata rings in New Year

KOLKATA: A sea of people stepped into Park Street after 11.45pm on Saturday stretching cops to the brink to avoid any untoward incident. Barring some incidents of drunken brawl in which police had to physically remove some revellers, rescue a child and a person with a fractured face, the crowd eased out after around 45 minutes.
Till 11.45 pm, Park Street had a disciplined crowd.The barricades even on the main thoroughfare to allow pedestrian movement seemed to work perfectly under strict police watch. The feeder roads to Park Street were open to vehicular traffic till an hour before midnight. In fact, a policeman on duty said that the crowd was very sparse compared to what was witnessed on December 24 night.

Police had substantially increased deployment on Park Street given the earlier crowd surge.
After 11.45 pm, a crowd tsunami hit Park Street from JL Nehru Road and Allen Park-end. The barricades were unable to hold back people. As police tried to physically hold on to the barricades, the huge rush of people immediately posed a challenge to them.
It was during this time, the incidents were reported.
Police were alerted by a child, who was probably lost in the crowd and was screaming for help. An officer stepped inside the pedestrian channel to bring out the child on his shoulder and guide his mother to a safer point. The incident did not lead to anything untoward.
But a little down the road, police were faced with a drunken brawl which threatened to slip out of control. Emerging out of the crowd, a youth with a bleeding face was trying desperately break through the barricades. It appeared that he was assaulted by a couple. When police tried to intervene, they faced stiff resistance by those involved in the drunken brawl. Police had to physically remove those responsible. The woman cops of the Winners team defused the crisis.
When the clock hit midnight, fireworks started dotting the sky. For a few minutes, revellers were not stopped to step on Park Street to enjoy. Vehicular traffic along Park Street became slow for nearly 25 minutes due to heavy rush of vehicles of party-goers at that particular point of time. Sudden surge in number of two wheelers with riders cheering up and clicking selfies and shooting video of the celebration slowed their bikes near the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai-Middleton Row and Park Street junction.
A senior officer said, "Barring a few incidents, Park Street remained peaceful. Several prosecutions were made. Heavy deployment anticipating a huge rush, helped to control the crowd surge around midnight."