Assam Eviction Clash: Assam Police Open Fire During Confrontation in Sonapur

SONAPUR: Assam Police fired in the air to scatter the mob in Kochutoli village in Sonapur area in Kamrup district of Assam.

The incident took place during an eviction drive against the people who were accused of occupying a plot of land illicitly. These people had been cleared from the land before but had come back.

Officials said a team from the Sonapur circle office, along with police went to the village to carry out the eviction.

However, the situation turned uncontrollable as villagers attacked them with sharp-edge weapons, sticks, and stones.

A magistrate and more than a dozen police officers were injured in the attack, while a police vehicle was badly damaged in the chaos.

The police resorted to live ammunition in the absolute last resort in restoring order and safety of the team.

While referring to the eviction drive in the Sonapur Tribal Belt and Block, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday that it began peacefully. People who had been displaced returned home to their residences in Darrang and Morigaon districts.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma further explained that tensions mount as protests and unrest flared up in the area after Congress party openly criticized the eviction drive.

He said Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia, through his tweet that morning, has begun to oppose the drive and many people had turned angry.

The Chief Minister pointed out that the tribal belts and blocks originally set up by the Congress party in the state, but now they are speaking out against eviction drive.

He said this led to ire among the people who then assaulted the police, including Circle Officer, Deputy Commissioner of Police, and the Officer in Charge of Sonapur police station, injuring them. The police had to retaliate in which two people died and seven others and 22 police were injured.

The minister reiterated that the eviction drive would continue in government lands while adding that people staying on "Miyadi Patta" lands will be served notice to vacate. He even went to the extent of threatening that such incidents near Guwahati could signal something more serious would happen in the days to come.

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