In the first incident, two Tata Sumos carrying betel leaves from Jiribam were stopped by general strike supporters some three kms away from Noney towards Awangkhul early this morning. However the vehicles were set on fire after some time at around 9am. The two vehicles were totally burnt during the arson.
The second incident happened late this morning at around 11:20am when a team of state police personnel including Imphal east and west district police commandos was on a its way to Awangkhul to rescue a team of CISF personnel who were left stranded at Awangkhul while returning from duty at Tamenglong hq during the Union home minister’s visit to the district yesterday.
According to a source, while on its way, the team of Imphal east and west police commandos were blocked by a mob of strike supporters at Noney bazar from proceeding any further and in order to disperse the crowd, the commandos fired many rounds of tear gas shells, mock bombs and rubber bullets and managed to cross the area. However on their return journey, the commando team further fired more rounds of tear gas shells, mock bombs and rubber bullets to disperse the mob which had begun to grow in size by then.
However according to local sources, the strike was peaceful until the arrival of the police team, the police on arival at the scene fired rubber bullets, tear gas shells and mock bombs at the strike supporters without any provocation or warning.
A local of the area further stated that the police seem to have come with the intention to instigate violence towards the gathered strike supporters. A local further informed media person that six strike supporters were injured and another ten houses of the nearby area were damaged during the police action.
Meanwhile, angered with the police action, strike supporters set on fire a 407 mini truck of the Noney police and destroyed a BRTF water tanker and two Tata Sumos at Noney bazar.