Assam violence: 5 killed, curfew on Guwahati, IANS: An indefinite
curfew was clamped in Assams main city of Guwahati on Saturday after five
people were killed and more than 130 wounded, 30 of them critically, in a
mob attack on tribal protesters.
Trouble began when about 10,000 tribal people, backed by the All Assam
Adivasi Students' Association (AAASA), took out a protest march through the
city streets demanding scheduled tribe status.
"Residents of Guwahati and the protesters clashed in the streets after the
agitators went on a rampage damaging about 100 vehicles and destroying
shops.
The angry locals retaliated by attacking the protesters in which five
Adivasi people were killed," a senior police official said wishing not to be
named.
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Police fired teargas shells to disperse the protesters when they tried to
break a security cordon to take out the march through the city streets.
"Local residents armed with sticks and iron rods, besides crude implements,
attacked the fleeing protesters and beat them mercilessly," Parag Moni
Aditya, a witness, said."The mob attack took place after the protesters
started damaging vehicles and shops in the area," the police said.
"An indefinite curfew was enforced as a precautionary measure with the army
kept on standby in the city," C K Das, a magistrate, said. The injured,
including women, were shifted to hospitals. The tribals are engaged in
Assam's tea plantations. The AAASA has called a 36-hour sta-tewide strike on
Sunday.
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Nov252007/scroll2007112537743.asp?section=frontpagenew
