Curfew clamped on Guwahati after spontaneous protest turns violent

Curfew was imposed in Guwahati and Assam Rifles jawans were deployed in Tripura as the North-East States plunged into chaos over the hugely emotive Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, officials said. Three Army columns were put on standby in Assam and Tripura.

Curfew was imposed in Guwahati from 6.15 pm on Wednesday till 7 am on Thursday. Internet services were suspended in 10 districts of Assam for 24 hours, beginning 7 pm on Wednesday, amid massive protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Amid the spiraling protests in the North-East, the Centre is rushing 5,000 Central paramilitary personnel for law and order duties in containing the protests.

Tens of thousands of anti-CAB protesters thronged the streets of Assam on Wednesday, clashing with police and plunging the State into chaos of a magnitude not seen since the violent six-year movement by students that ended with the signing of the Assam accord in August 1985.

The protests were spontaneous and not organised under any banner. The police fired tear gas shells and baton-charged the protesters, who also sought to fight back.

According to unofficial accounts, hundreds of protesters have been detained in Guwahati and other places like Dibrugarh and Jorhat.

A large number of agitated students blocked the road near the Secretariat complex and pulled down the barricades erected on the arterial GS Road, provoking police action.

Police burst teargas shells and baton-charged the protesters, who were seen lobbing back the shells at uniformed men. They also damaged a stage erected on the road for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed summit meeting with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Sunday.

They further pulled down hoardings and banners advertising the Government’s welfare schemes and made a bonfire of those before the Secretariat.

Anti-CAB agitators also clashed with police in Dibrugarh where rubber bullets and tear gas shells were fired to break up protests. A journalist was reported injured in a stone throwing incident in Dibrugarh.

Police shooed away agitators who blocked road and rail traffic near Chaulkhowa in Dibrugarh district.

Security personnel also fired rubber bullets and baton-charged the protesters at Moran in Dibrugarh district.

Despite the absence of any banner by a political or student outfit, spontaneous protests were reported in Jorhat, Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Bongaigaon, Nagaon, Sonitpur and many other districts. A motorcycle rally was organised against the CAB in Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s hometown Chabua.

Gauhati University, Cotton University and Dibrugarh University postponed examinations scheduled for Wednesday. Their campuses were deserted with hardly any student around. Discarded tyres and wooden logs were set on fire by protesters as chaos prevailed on highways, disrupting vehicular movement.

In Jorhat and Dibrugarh cities, all shops are closed and vehicles off the roads. People have blocked roads and rail tracks at various places in the two districts.

In Lakwa town of Sivasagar, a motorcycle rally was brought out.

Some protesters tried to enter areas where oil wells are located in Lakwa, but their attempts were foiled by police, officials said.

In view of the protests, the Northeast Frontier Railway has cancelled many trains and rescheduled some others that originate from the State.

At least 14 trains have either been cancelled, short terminated or diverted anticipating “disruptions in train movement”, NF Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Subhanan Chanda said in a statement.

Internet will be suspended as “social media platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and You Tube etc are likely to be used for spreading of rumours and also for transmission of information like pictures, videos and texts that have the potential to inflame passions and does exacerbate the law and order situation”, the notification issued by the Home and Political Department said.

It further stated that there have been protests in different parts of the State and there are probabilities of intensifying such protests which may adversely affect the law and order situation.

There are reports in the electronic media that protesters are involved in vandalism which is likely to “spread serious law and order situation” in the State, it added.