Traffic was brought to a standstill in central and south Kolkata on Thursday following Muharram processions which were taken out in various parts of city.

In the morning, around five processions were taken out in the city. The largest procession took off from Beliaghata Main Road and reached the Sealdah flyover. More than 5,000 people participated in the procession. Another procession, with around 3000 people, was organised at Prince Anwar Shah Road.

A third procession took place in Ekbalpore. During the day, major arterial roads of the city had been shut down till 2 pm, including Beliaghata Main Road, Moulali, Sealdah, Diamond Harbour Road, AJC Bose Road and BB Ganguly Street.

In the evening, processions from different parts of the city converged on Park Circus crossing throwing traffic out of gear from 7 pm to 10 pm. Even the Park Circus connector of the by-pass was shut down for more than an hour.