Violence in Nagaland: Protesters torch CM's house
February 02, 2017 22:28
Violent mobs went on the rampage in the Nagaland capital, Kohima on Thursday to vent their anger against ongoing elections to urban local bodies, vandalising and setting on fire government offices and vehicles, prompting deployment of five columns of army to bring the situation under control.
According to media reports Chief Minister T R Zeliang's private house was set on fire by protesters.
The regional transport office and that of the excise department were also set ablaze by violent mobs demanding the resignation of Chief Minister T R Zeliang and his entire cabinet for going ahead with the ULB polls despite opposition from powerful tribal groups that are against 33 per cent reservation for women in the municipal bodies, eyewitness said.
All of these incidents, however, could not be immediately confirmed by the police.
Earlier in the day, the Nagaland Tribes Action Committee, representing different tribal organisations, had served an ultimatum to Zeliang and his cabinet to resign by 4 pm, remove Dimapur Commissioner of Police and also declare the election process, already under way, null and void.
The NTAC had also submitted a memorandum to the Raj Bhavan in the absence of Governor P B Acharya, who was in Itanagar, in support of its demands. Acharya holds dual charge of the Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
Anger was brewing in the state since the killing of two protesting youths in police firing at Dimapur on Tuesday. It grew further after the bodies were brought and kept in the heart of Kohima town last evening.
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