18 injured as police fire rubber pellets on protesters in Assam

At least 18 protesters were injured after police fired rubber pellets and resorted to lathicharge at Rangajan in violence-hit Golaghat district of Assam along Nagaland this evening, a senior police officer said.

District Superintendent of Police Siladitya Chetia told PTI that a group of protesters turned violent and attacked the police and CRPF personnel deployed in the area following a road blockade agitation launched by them.

As the demonstrators attacked the security men, police resorted to lathicharge and then fired rubber pellets to disperse them and bring the situation under control, Chetia said.

In the lathicharge ten persons were injured and eight others in the firing, he said.
The wounded were immediately taken to hospital where some were released after first aid and others were undergoing treatment, the SP added.

The protesters were agitating against alleged failure of the state government to protect the people at Uriamghat in Assam against the attack by miscreants from Nagaland killing nine persons and rendering over 10,000 homeless on Tuesday last.

Local residents, however, alleged the security personnel dragged them out of their homes after they called off their road blockade and fired upon them from regular guns after chasing them for some distance.

Some of the opposition political parties and social activist organisations have condemned the "attack on innocent people" by the security forces.