NEW DELHI: At least 17 people were wounded in clashes as army and RAF personnel fired tear gas shells in Phougakchao and Kangvai areas in district Bishnupur of Manipur state of India on Thursday to stop people from proceeding to a proposed burial site in violation of the ban on gatherings.
The district administration of Imphal West and Imphal East have ended curfew relaxations that were earlier announced.
Tension had been brewing since morning in district Bishnupur as hundreds of people came out on the streets for the burial place and to block security forces’ movement, according to Indian media.
Locals led by women tried to cross the barricade placed by the RAF personnel and army, demanding that they should be permitted to go to the burial place Tuibuong.
The security forces fired tear gas shells to disperse them, resulting in multiple injuries.
Violence in Manipur
Hours before a planned mass burial of Kuki-Zomi people who lost their lives in the ethnic violence in Manipur, the state’s high court on Thursday ordered to maintain status quo at the proposed burial place in district Churachandpur district.
While an apex tribal body ITLF said that it was postponing the funeral services by 7days following requests from the Union home ministry.
The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, the Kuki-Zomi organization, had planned the burial of thirty-five people who were killed in ethnic riots in the region on Thursday in Haolai Khopi village of Churachandpur, leading to increased tensions in many districts of Manipur.
