Security forces on Friday fired tear gas shells and used water cannons to disperse protestors as day two of the 48-hour shutdown turned violent in the mountainous capital city of Arunachal Pradesh.

Eighteen students' bodies and civil society groups sponsored the shutdown to mount pressure on the Pema Khandu government to scrap the decision of granting permanent resident certificates (PRC) to non-Arunachal Pradesh Scheduled Tribe communities of Namsai and Changlang districts.

The agitating groups alleged that the joint high power committee (JHPC) led by Environment and Forest Minister Nabam Rebia, constituted to look into the matter, had submitted its report without proper verification of facts and the same should be rectified before it is tabled before the Assembly.

The recommendation made by the JHPC is likely to be tabled in the Assembly on Saturday.

In fact, the shutdown, which was more or less peaceful during the morning hours, got intense by the afternoon as hundreds of agitators (mostly women) marched towards the State Legislative Assembly building shouting slogans against the government, particularly Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein.

On being stopped midway by the police and paramilitary forces on duty, the agitating protestors headed towards the national highway and staged a sit-in protest in front of the Civil Secretariat where more people joined the demonstration and later started to burn tyres.

The shutdown witnessed instances of vehicles being burnt, roads being blocked and agitators resorting to stone pelting at several places in the city.

The six communities - Adivasi, Deori, Gorkha, Mishing, Moran, and Sonowal Kachari - mostly inhabit Namsai and Changlang districts of Arunachal Pradesh on the border with Assam. Some of these communities enjoy Scheduled Tribe status in Assam.

--IANS

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