Protesters in India’s Manipur state try to storm home of chief minister
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Firefighters dousing a vehicle torched by protesters in Imphal, in India's north-eastern state of Manipur, amid ongoing ethnic violence.
PHOTO: AFP
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GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI – At least 10 people were injured on Thursday when Indian security officials used tear gas and batons to disperse protesters trying to storm the home of the chief minister of Manipur state, defying a curfew, a senior police officer said.
Another police official said the situation was “extremely tense” after armed mobs on Wednesday vandalised an office of the ruling political party and hurled petrol bombs at two police sites.
Ethnic violence has plunged the north-eastern state bordering Myanmar into what many security experts describe as an intense civil war fought over land, jobs and political clout between its two largest local groups.
Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and his family members were not in the house in Imphal, the state capital, at the time, the senior police officer in Manipur said.
“The situation is volatile... People are violating curfew orders and we are compelled to use force to stop them,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.
The authorities declared the indefinite curfew
Mobile Internet services have been suspended
Since the violence erupted on May 3,
More than half the state’s population of 3.2 million belongs to the Meitei community, while the Kuki community, who make up about 43 per cent, live mostly in the hills.
The two students, whose bodies were found this week after they went missing in July, were from the Meitei community.
The students’ families and Meitei leaders have accused Kuki militants of killing them, and criticised the authorities for failing to end the violence.
People protesting in Imphal over the alleged abduction and murder of two students.
PHOTO: AFP
The Chief Minister, who is from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, denounced the suspected murders and vowed maximum punishment for the culprits.
Leaders of the opposition Congress party have accused Mr Modi’s government of failing to control the violence in a state governed by his nationalist party. The government says efforts to restore peace through dialogue are being pursued. REUTERS
