Assam burns over CAB, curfew in Guwahati, Army deployed

Guwahati/Agartala, Dec 11

Guwahati, the epicentre of anti-CAB protests, was placed under indefinite curfew while Army was called in at three places and Assam Rifles personnel were deployed in Tripura on Wednesday as the two northeastern states plunged into chaos over the hugely emotive Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, officials said.

Army PRO Lt Col P Khongsai said two Army columns had been deployed in Guwahati city and were carrying out flag marches. Army has also been deployed in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts, officials said.

Internet services have been suspended in 10 districts of Assam, beginning 7 pm on Wednesday, as massive protests raged across cities, to prevent “misuse” of social media to disturb peace and tranquility and maintain law and order.

Internet services are already suspended in the entire state of Tripura for 48 hours from 2 pm on Tuesday to thwart attempts by mischief mongers to disturb peace. An order issued by the Tripura Government also prohibits SMSes on the networks of all mobile service providers.

As tens of thousands of anti-CAB protesters descended on the streets of Assam on Wednesday, clashing with police and plunging the state into chaos of a magnitude unseen since the violent six-year movement by students that ended with the signing of the Assam accord, Guwahati was placed under curfew.

Initially, Assam police chief Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta said that the curfew, which began at 6.15 pm on Wednesday, will continue till 7 am on Thursday. However, he later informed that it had been extended indefinitely.

Defying the curfew order, protesters were still on the streets of Guwahati where most arterial roads were blocked. The Congress has called a shutdown in Tripura on Thursday.

Though no party or student body had called a shutdown in Assam, protesters, a majority of them students, fought pitched battles with security forces, including in front of the secretariat, the seat of the BJP government. Police fired tear gas shells and baton-charged protesters, who fought back.

A railway station in Dibrugarh’s Chabua, the hometown of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, was set on fire by protestors late in the night. The Panitola railway station in Tinsukia district was also torched, a Northeast Frontier Railway spokesperson said.