Thursday, November 3 2005 18:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: West Bengal's ruling Left Front major Communist Party of India (CPI) Marxist (M) today (Nov 3, 2005) organised a demonstration at the N S C Bose International Airport here against the November seven Indo-US joint military air exercise at the Kalaikunda Air Force station, airport sources said.

The peaceful agitation, led by party MP Amitabha Nandy, lasted for 30 minutes before the airport's main entrance.

Airport sources said that an Indian Air Force plane landed yesterday and another landed today to join the joint air exercise. A USAF plane is scheduled to land here tomorrow (Nov 4, 2005).

Stating that more than 500 party activists attended the demonstration, Nandy said, ''We will finalise our next course of action tomorrow.''

CPI(M) state secretary Anil Biswas told a press conference on Tuesday that nearly 30 lakh Left Front activists would organise a state-wide demonstration on November seven, the day the joint exercise is scheduled to begin.

Of these over one-lakh activists will hold demonstrations around the Kalaikunda Air Force Station.

Biswas said that the party wanted an immediate halt to the Indo-U S joint military exercises, besides a clarification from the Centre about the foreign policy it intended to follow.