Train services in Assam were completely paralysed and all rail links between the Northeast and the rest of the country were completely cut off as the All-Bodo Students’ Union launched its agitation for a separate Bodoland.
Violence continued in trouble-torn Karbi Anglong where the police was forced to open fire on protesters who damaged many government properties and also set rubber plantations owned by Congress MP Birensingh Engti on fire.
Karbi Anglong SP Mugdho Jyoti Mahanta, who took charge Thursday, said the Army had started flag marches in the violence-hit areas. He admitted the situation was tense and said they were trying to enforce curfew. The police said protesters in the Satgaon area set a post office, government hospital and a sericulture and social forestry department office on fire. The police opened fire after protesters started pelting stones at a police station near Diphu. It said four agitators sustained bullet injuries and were taken to the Guwahati Medical College Hospital. Seven policemen, including a circle inspector, was also injured.