Boundless brutality - 12 killed in Guwahati violence

(Second lead: Guwahati violence)

By ANI
Saturday November 24, 08:02 PM

Guwahati, Nov 24 (ANI): At least 12 people were killed on Saturday after a rally of Adivasi Students Union (ASU) turned violent here.

Another 100 people have been injured in the incident. According to State Principal Secretary (Home) Subhas Das, 60 of the injured were hospitalised.

Indefinite curfew has been imposed in parts of Guwahati and army has been deployed.

ASU members demanding the Scheduled Tribe status after holding a rally at Beltola, tried to march towards the State Assembly at Dispur. On being stopped by the police, the students turned violent and attacked and injured a magistrate.

Thousands of students, armed with bows and arrows, destroyed private property and set several vehicles on fire.

According to eyewitnesses, the area from Dispur to Bashista was turned into "battleground".

The locals furious at their property being attacked, also clashed with the students resulting in several being injured from both sides, officials said.

"We were pulling down the shutters of our shop when they came and attacked us. They even clashed with the police and damaged police vehicles," said Subhojit, an eyewitness.

Newspersons were not being allowed to get near to the troubled areas.

(ANI)


Statesman News Service

GUWAHATI, Nov 24: More than a dozen people are feared dead, most of them savagely beaten to death in the presence of policemen and in full public view, and more than 250 injured when participants in a protest rally organised by the All Assam Adivasi Students’ Union demanding Scheduled Tribe status for Santhals (most of whom work as tea plantation labourers) clashed with locals today. The official toll is one dead and 10 “critically injured”. An indefinite curfew has been imposed on the district and the government has ordered an administrative probe into the violence. Earlier, the rally had turned violent as the participants had gone on the rampage, prompting the residents of Beltola Last Gate and Survey areas of the city to take them on.

Eyewitnesses, who put the toll as high as 20, told The Statesman that trouble erupted between 12 noon and 12.15 p.m, when rallyists started pelting cars and vehicles with stones and ransacking shops, offices and business establishments in the area, triggering a barbaric retaliation from locals, which resulted in a free for all. Such was the brutality and barbarity of the clashes that even those who lay on the streets were not spared. Most of the injured persons are leaders of Aaasu. The eyewitnesses said that the number of policemen deployed to preempt violence had been inadequate. And that they had been mute spectators of the gruesome tragedy that was being enacted on the streets of the city. So much so, that the locals were seen hitting and kicking those who lay on the ground with whatever objects they had with them in full view of policemen stationed there. When things went out of control, Central Reserve Police Force jawans were called in who resorted to blank firing.

At the time of filing of this report, streets were littered with bodies and the injured persons were being rushed to Guwahati Medical College and Hospital. A majority of the rallyists are now protected by the CRPF at Beltola High School playground. Soon after the incidents, shops and business establishments in the nearby areas and along GS Road were shut down.

Assam DGP Mr RN Mathur told reporters that a detailed investigation had been ordered into the incident. The Santhal Adivasis are one of the earliest inhabitants of modern Assam who were brought to the State by British planters to work in the tea gardens in the middle of the 19th century. They have, for years, been demanding ST status which they enjoy in the rest of the country.

City SSP Mr Surendra Kumar said the Adivasis had no permission to rally, and were supposed to confine themselves to the ground on which they had converged. Police fired tear gas shells when they had tried to break into the Dispur Capital Complex, the administrative headquarters of the Assam government.

“When they (the Adivasis) were running helter-skelter for cover, some of them got agitated and resorted to violence,” he said. He confirmed that the curfew was indefinite. When asked about the negligible presence of police at the site of the rally, he said that “numbers were always relative”, and refused to concede that not enough policemen had been around. Kamrup (Metro) DC Mr Abinash Joshi said more than 250 persons had been injured, 10 of them critically, and that one person had been killed. He said a few arrests had been been made and that Adivasis had been escorted back to their homes under police protection. A red alert has been sounded across the state.

CM talks peace over tea

GUWAHATI, Nov. 24: As Guwahati erupted in barbarity, Assam chief minister Mr Tarun Gogoi was addressing, for the second time in three days, the India International Tea Convention (IITC) 2007, which concluded today, close to the site of the gruesome tragedy. Unaware of the brutality on the city streets, he was harping on the state of “peace in Assam” in company of his Congress colleague and Union commerce minister Mr Kamal Nath.

Though Mr Gogoi wasn’t exactly fiddling like the much-maligned Roman emperor Nero, the Assam chief minister was busy trying to appease the tea barons who had been upset with an acerbic speech delivered by the Union minister of state for commerce Mr Jairam Ramesh on the opening day of IITC 2007.
SNS


The Sentinel

Security personnel resorting to lathicharge and tear gas shelling to disperse Adivasi students near Dispur on Saturday when the students turned violent. (Right) Local people beating up the processionists. (Sentinel)


Violence: It’s Government’s failure

Red alert sounded in State; curfew from Dispur Last Gate to Bashistha Chariali .

According to eyewitness accounts, Adivasi people, mostly tea workers, started to gather at Dakshin Beltola High School from 10 am, and the number rose to about 10,000, but the police personnel on duty at the rally were below 10. It was at around 12 noon that a procession of about 5,000 Adivasi activists started from the Dakshin Beltola High School ground towards Dispur. At 12.30 pm, some of the processionists went berserk and started to damage vehicles, shops and residential houses along the road, with the police failing to control the mob. When they were about to reach Dispur Last Gate at around 1.30 pm, they were pushed back by the security forces. When the processionists started to run helter-skelter, the local people retaliated, while the police personnel remained mute spectators to the open battlefield, eyewitnesses said.

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 24: One person was killed and about 230 others injured after the public retaliated against a procession taken out by the All Adivasi Students’ Association (AASA) near Dispur Last Gate here today, leading to imposition of an indefinite curfew from Dispur Last Gate to Beltola. The public retaliation came after the AASA activists vandalized shops, vehicles and residential houses along their way to Dispur where they were supposed to assemble to press for their demand for ST status for the Adivasi community. AASA vice president Rafel Kuzur, however, put the death toll at 20.

A red alert has been sounded in the entire State asking the police to remain alert so that such incidents do not occur anywhere in the State. The State Government instituted a one-man inquiry commission with Additional Chief Secretary PP Verma as the chairman to inquire into the incident.

The trouble broke out between Dispur Last Gate and Basishta, when over 5,000 Adivasis were marching towards the State Assembly after holding a rally at the Dakshin Beltola High School ground demanding ST status for the community. The Adivasi activists vandalized shops, vehicles and residential houses on their way to Dispur, with the police failing to control the processionists. About 100 vehicles, including that of MLA TP Das, were damaged. Magistrate SG Hilali and SDO (Sadar) CK Bhuyan were also roughed up by the processionists when the two officials made their abortive attempt to prevent the processionists from marching ahead. When they (the processionists) were pushed back by security forces by using tear gas shells near Dispur Last Gate, and started to flee, the public broke down on them mercilessly leaving one dead and over 230 injured, 20 of them critically. The police utterly failed to prevent the situation from turning worse. According to eyewitness accounts, had an adequate number of policemen been deployed in the area, the situation would not spiralled out of control.

According to eyewitness accounts, about 50 of the processionists were lying on the road and the chances of their survival were remote.

A high-level official meeting was held here this evening to review the situation. The State Government has announced ex gratia of Rs 50,000 for each of seriously injured and Rs 10,000 for each of those with minor injuries, while the next of the kin of the dead AASA activist will get Rs 3 lakh. All the injured will get medical treatment free of cost.

Government’s press handout(1) All Adivasi Students’ Association (AASA) requested for permission to hold a rally today at Dakhin Beltola High School field. No permission was granted to hold the rally at Guwahati.
(2) But about 3,000 people gathered at the site.
(3) After the gathering, they wanted to take out a procession to Dispur in support of their demand to declare the Tea Tribes as Scheduled Tribes.
(4) They were not given permission by the Magistrate on duty, where upon 500 to 700 persons broke away forcefully and entered the Beltola Dispur Road and indulged in vandalism and destruction of shops and cars along the route. This resulted in clashes between the resident shopkeepers and the agitators.
(5) The situation was brought under control within an hour and curfew was imposed in the affected areas, i.e. Basistha Road.
(6) All the injured were shifted to GMC (210) and MMC (30) hospitals.
(7) Total number of injured persons is 240, out of which 10 are seriously injured, while one person has succumbed to his injuries in the GMC Hospital.
(8) The situation is normal now, and under close watch.
(9) All arrangements are being made to send to the persons with minor injuries to their respective districts.

Congress behind crackdown: AASA
By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 24: All Adivasi Students’ Union (AASA) president Justin Lakra today said that the Congress was behind the crackdown on Adivasi processionists in the city. He said Congress goons, who were among the processionists, went berserk and damaged shops, vehicles and residential houses. Meanwhile, the AASA has called a 36-hour Assam bandh from November 26 in protest against the killing of its activists.


Lapses during the rally
By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Nov 24: Who is responsible for the ugly incident that took place on the Beltola-Bashistha Road in the city today? Were not the police and the district administration alert when they had prior information of the All Adivasi Students’ Association (AASA) rally in support the Adivasi community’s long-standing demand for ST status?

It is worth mentioning here that the AASA had resorted to vandalism during a rally at Khanapara in 2003. A number of cars and vehicles were damaged in the 2003 AASA rally, and that experience should have been enough for the police and the district administration to remain alert during the AASA rally today.

According to eyewitness accounts, Adivasi people, mostly tea workers, started to gather at Dakshin Beltola High School from 10 am, and the number rose to about 10,000, but the police personnel on duty at the rally were below 10. On the other hand, police presence at the India International Tea Convention at Sarusajai, where Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had a programme, was very dense.

It was at around 12 noon that a procession of about 5,000 Adivasi activists started from the Dakshin Beltola High School ground towards Dispur. At 12.30 pm, some of the processionists went berserk and started to damage vehicles, shops and residential houses along the road, with the police failing to control the mob. When they were about to reach Dispur Last Gate at around 1.30 pm, they were pushed back by the security forces. When the processionists started to run helter-skelter, the local people retaliated, while the police personnel remained mute spectators to the open battlefield, eyewitnesses said.