Students protest, cops resort to tear gassing agitators
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 25 2018: Police fired several rounds of tear gas shells and mock bombs to control agitating students who took to the streets to protest the police action towards the students of Manipur University on the midnight of September 20 and demanding the unconditional release of the arrested teachers and students of the university.

Students of DM College of Arts, TG Higher Secondary School and CC Higher Secondary School launched protest demonstrations from their respective institutions simultaneously one after another in an attempt to storm the Chief Minister bungalow.

All the vehicles coming along road leading towards the protest sites were diverted by police to other alternative routes which resulted in traffic jams on many of the major roads of the State capital today.

The most intensified form of agitation was witnessed along Sanjenthong road where a large number of students of CC Higher Secondary School came out from the school demanding the release of arrested teachers and students of Manipur University today afternoon.

Initially, a large number of police personnel who were deployed in the area, prevented the students from coming out from the school campus and also closed down the main entrance gate of the school.

Eventually, a heated argument broke out between the two sides before rocks, stones, tear gas shells and mock bombs started flying.

The confrontation between police and the agitating students lasted for around 3 0 minutes and during the incident, the road leading to CC Higher Secondary School was closed and the vehicles from Palace Gate and from near CM bungalow traffic junction, were diverted to alternate routes.

During the confrontation, some police personnel sustained minor injuries but eventually the situation was brought under control by the security forces.

On the other, at around the same time, a large number of DM College of Arts students took out a protest demonstration from the college campus.

They came out from DM College southern gate and tried to march towards Chief Minister Bungalow holding banners demanding immediate release of the arrested teachers and students of Manipur University.

The students were stopped by a large number of Imphal West police personnel before reaching High Court of Manipur Guest House.

A heated argument took place between the agitating students and the police personnel for more than 30 minutes and during the time, all the vehicles coming toward Kangla from Khoyathong side were also diverted to alternate routes by the police team.

Later the protesting students sat down in the middle of the road as a part of their protest and a major scuffle broke out when the police tried to pull away the protesters.

To bring the situation under control, the police were forced to use mock bombs and tear gas shells to disperse the agitating students from the road and push them back to the college campus.

The students also pelted stones towards the police personnel on their way back to the college campus.

Upon reaching the southern gate of DM College located near PCTC oil pump agitating students resorted to blocking all the vehicles coming from Khoyathong towards North AOC, causing a huge traffic jam along the road.

The police finally pushed back all the agitating students inside the college campus and normal traffic resumed along the road.

On the other hand, students of TG Higher Secondary School also carried out a protest demonstration in front of the school along the road leading to 1st Manipur Rifle complex.

However, police were able to prevent the students from taking out their protest near the traffic junction and as such the protest was confined near the entrance gate of the school.

The scene turned ugly when a group of students got stuck on the optical fibre wires and were involved in a stampede when they tried to rush out of the school campus from the gate located on the northern side while other students were agitating in front of the main entrance gate.

One student sustained injuries in the stampede and was rushed to JNIMS for treatment in a police vehicle.

In another report, students of Department of Earth Sciences and Department of Political Sciences, MU, have decided to boycott classes and examinations until and unless the arrested students and teachers are released and normalcy is brought back to the university.

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