Manipur violence: Students take to streets demanding restoration of peace in state, police resort to tear gas

A large number of students stepped out in the streets on July 24 and took out a peace rally demanding restoration of peace in the state of Manipur that has been hit by ethnic violence since May 3, 2023.

Manipur police even resorted to firing a couple of tear gas shells to disperse the protesters mostly comprising of students of Manipur University. 

The Manipur University Students' Union (MUSU) started their peace rally from the varsity gate at Canchipur and then headed till Singjamei Bazar and then took a U-turn back to variety campus with the demand to restore peace and tranquility at earliest.  

Police allowed the protesters to move only upto Kakwa Bazar in principle, however after confrontation with security, they headed till Singjamei Bazaar which is about 1 km from Kakwa Bazar. 

The students also held a heated argument with the police personnel for firing tear gas shells to them who are unarmed and pursuing a peace really. 

Addressing media at the sidelines of the protest, vice president of MUSU, Oinam Premdas said that due to the ongoing conflict, students’ community are being hit hard as academic career is at stake. “It has been almost 80 days that our academic atmosphere is in complete dismal state. This is a great loss of students’ community. The leaders of state and centre should end this crisis instead of politicising the matter.” 

He said that India is known for its military strength occupying fourth rank in the world. However central leaders not being able to end the unrest even after more than two months since the violence broke, is very unfortunate. 
Referring to a recent viral video of two women being paraded naked, he said that central leaders should top politicising the crisis. The present turmoil affected both communities in many ways. However central leader focusing only one incident is very unfortunate. 

“Politicizing the present crisis instead of addressing the unrest is highly condemnable. It is unfortunate that unrest is escalating each day which threatened survival of ethnic community. Violence begets violence and it wouldn’t bring any benefit to any community. Therefore, leaders of the state should extend their concerted effort to stop the crisis. 

Lamenting about two students who went missing, he appealed to the authority concerned to trace the whereabouts of the missing students at the earliest.

Also read : Manipur violence: Protesters storm Union Minister RK Ranjan Singh's residence demanding him to raise crisis in Parliament