Imphal: Fresh violence flared in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on Saturday night as sections of the Kuki community took to the streets over the reported detention of six villagers by security forces, triggering road blockades, stone-pelting and damage to a key national highway, officials said on Sunday, PTI reported.
The agitation began around 10 pm and continued until about midnight, mainly in and around Motbung, where protesters set tyres ablaze on the road, hurled stones at government vehicles and used heavy earth-moving machinery to dig up stretches of National Highway-2 linking Imphal–Dimapur to stop the movement of security convoys, they said.
According to local accounts, the six persons — described as village volunteers from Kholen — were picked up by security personnel without being told the grounds for their detention. Kholen lies close to the Naga-dominated Chawangkining village, which has been at the centre of recent violence.
Armed miscreants attacked the village earlier this month, setting off a fresh cycle of fear and retaliation in the district, officials noted.
In response to the protests, security forces fired multiple rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. A number of agitators sustained injuries in the clashes and were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, the officials said.
A senior official said the detained village volunteers were subsequently released by the security forces, following which the protests ended.
“The situation is under control now,” he added.
