All Adivasi Students Association calls for Assam shutdown

source:- topnews

Guwahati, Nov 27: The All Adivasi Students Association of Assam (AASAA) has called for a 36-hour Assam shutdown today in protest against the attack on tribals demonstrators during a rally here on Saturday.

The All-Assam Tea Tribe Students Association (AATSA) has supported the shutdown call. They have called for observance of ‘black day’ in all tea gardens on Tuesday.

Fierce violence broke out between tribals demanding Scheduled Tribes status and local residents during a protest march by the former towards the State Assembly.

Many shops were destroyed and over 100 vehicles were damaged in the ensuing violence.

Curfew has now been relaxed, which was earlier imposed in areas between Dispur and Bashistha.

The tribals blamed the police for the incident in which at least 12 people were killed.

Several leaders from Jharkhand on Sunday reviewed the situation here.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda urged the Assam Government to ensure the safety of tribals who had migrated to Assam.

BJP leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Ajrun Munda visited the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) and asked about the condition of the injured.

Demanding the dismissal of the State Government, Munda said that the Tarun Gogoi Government has no moral right to continue and should quit. He also demanded a judicial probe into the incident.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Chief Shibu Soren met the injured Adivasis in the hospital.

According to sources, former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi is scheduled to arrive here today.

The Asom Gana Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have demanded dissolution of the Congress-led coalition government and institution of a judicial probe.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) held the government responsible for Saturday’s violence. (ANI)

FIVE KILLED IN GUWAHATI MOB VIOLENCE

source:-sify timesnow

Guwahati: At least five people were killed and over 70 wounded, 30 of them critically, in a mob attack Saturday on tribal protestors in Assam’s main city of Guwahati, officials said. Curfew was imposed in the Bentola area of the city.

A police spokesman said the clash took place when about 10,000 tribal people, backed by the All Assam Adivasi Students’ Association (AAASA), took out a protest rally demanding Scheduled
Tribe status for the community.

“Local residents of Guwahati and the protestors clashed in the streets after the agitators went on a rampage damaging about 100 vehicles and destroying shops. The angry locals retaliated by attacking the protestors in which five Adivasi people were killed,” senior police official Rajen Singh told IANS.

Police fired in the air to disperse the protestors when they tried to break a security cordon to take out the march through the city streets.

“Local residents armed with sticks and iron rods, besides crude implements, attacked the fleeing protestors and beat them mercilessly,” said Parag Moni Aditya, a witness.

Police and paramilitary troopers have since blocked a major stretch of the city to prevent the protestors from being attacked by the mob.

“More than 3,000 locals were involved in the mob attack,” police official A Das said.
The injured, including women, were shifted to hospitals.

“The condition of at least 30 of the injured is very serious and the casualty figures might mount,” a doctor at the Guwahati Medical College said.

The Adivasis are mostly engaged in Assam’s tea plantations and account for about six percent of the state’s 26 million people.