Manipur 'sound protest': Imphal valley bangs utensils, tear gas fired

Thousands of people across Manipur's five valley districts took part in a "sound protest" on Friday evening, October 23, over continuing killings and what they called the government's failure to restore normalcy, The New Indian Express reported.

Half an hour of noise

Between 7.30 pm and 8 pm, residents in different parts of Imphal banged utensils, struck electric poles with hammers, beat drums and honked vehicle horns. One protester told the newspaper the noise was meant to make leaders hear people's pain after repeated appeals had been ignored.

The protest was called by the Federation of Haomee, a civil society organisation, which asked people to make noise for half an hour to express frustration over the ethnic conflict and the lack of peace.

March towards Kangla

Some protesters marched towards Kangla, the historic seat of the former Manipur kingdom, a short distance from Lok Bhavan and the Chief Minister's secretariat. Security forces stopped groups at Palace Compound, Moirangkhom and Keisampat junctions, but hundreds reached the Kangla gate, where they were kept out of the fort.

Police later fired several rounds of tear gas to disperse protesters near Lok Bhavan and put up barricades there after 8 pm. No injuries or violence were reported.

AMUCO announces agitation

Earlier on Friday, the All Manipur United Clubs' Organisation (AMUCO) and allied groups said they would launch a series of democratic agitations from October 24 against any move to alter Manipur's territorial integrity.

At a press conference, AMUCO president Sorokhaibam Sanjoy alleged that the Centre had been trying to undermine the state's territorial integrity. He argued that Manipur was a princely state before 1947, not a state carved out of an autonomous district council, and said the Centre should not consider a new autonomous council on community lines.

He also sought clarity on a meeting on Wednesday between former Intelligence Bureau Special Director A.K. Mishra, Rajya Sabha member Lt Gen (retd) R.P. Kalita and Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh in Imphal, saying the public had not been told its purpose.

Groups backing AMUCO include AMAWOVA, Poirei Leimarol Meira Paibi Apunba Manipur, the Committee on Human Rights and the Manipuri Students' Federation. AMUCO's allegations about the Centre's intentions and the purpose of the meeting have not been independently established, and there was no official response in the reports.