More than 40 people were injured in a stampede at Manipur’s Bishnupur district on Wednesday as security forces fired tear gas shells to disperse over 10,000 people who had converged to demand the removal of an Army barricade. A defence source said the stand-off continued through the day. Armed miscreants fired at the Central security forces and a mob threw stones at them. Three personnel of the Rapid Action Force (RAF), a specialised anti-riot force, were injured in the incident.
The crowd had gathered at two locations within a radius of 2 km at Phougakchao Ikhai and Kwakta in Bishnupur.
The presence of the barricade, placed in a buffer zone at Bishnupur-Churachandpur boundary, has been protested by the Meitei groups.
