GUWAHATI A mob on July 24 attacked the Meghalaya Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in Tura, the hub of the State’s western half comprising the Garo Hills, during a meeting to resolve certain local issues.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma was holding a meeting with the leaders of some local organisations he had invited for a detailed discussion on the issue of designating Tura as Meghalaya’s winter capital and the proper implementation of a 51-year-old job reservation policy. The meeting was in the presence of other Cabinet Ministers and stakeholders.
About three hours into the meeting, hundreds of people gathered outside the CMO and began pelting stones. Police fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob after five policemen were injured and some window panes of the building were shattered.
“The Chief Minister and other Ministers oversaw the situation and help restore normalcy,” a government spokesperson said.
‘Action as per law’
“What happened today was very unfortunate. We have the entire video recording of the people who instigated [the violence] and necessary action will be taken according to the law,” Mr. Sangma said.
The leaders of the agitating organisations said the aggressive crowd that gathered outside the CMO was not part of their movement.
“I am unable to understand how this chaos broke out. We have been organising a peaceful hunger strike over the last few days. The sloganeering and stone-pelting were started by anti-social elements whom we have never seen before,” Laben Ch. Marak, a leader of one of the organisations, told journalists.
