By IANS
Guwahati : The army Thursday continued marching through Assam’s Goalpara district as the death toll from the police firing on protesters demanding rural polls mounted to eight with four more people succumbing to their injuries.
A police spokesperson said the army was deployed in strength across Assam’s Goalpara district, about 170 km west of the state’s main city of Guwahati.
“The situation is under control but tense with soldiers called out to prevent escalation of violence,” G.P. Singh, deputy inspector general of Assam police, told IANS.
Police had opened fire on a group of protesters Wednesday in Goalpara’s Lakhipur town when they went on a rampage burning vehicles and attacking a police station.
The protesters were taking out a procession in Lakhipur to press the state government to hold rural polls in the area.
Four people died on the spot and 20 were injured; four more later succumbed to their injuries.
“An indefinite curfew is on in Lakhipur area since Wednesday,” Singh said.
The area, dominated by the Rabha ethnic group, has an autonomous politico-administrative structure. The tribal leaders who run it have opposed local elections for fear that the powers of the autonomous council would be curtailed.
The non-tribals who cohabit the area, however, favour holding local polls and had taken out the procession Wednesday to put pressure on the Congress-led ruling coalition in Assam to hold the polls.
The non-tribal people had called a 48-hour general strike in Goalpara district since Wednesday morning and were trying to enforce the strike when the situation turned violent.
The staggered local elections began Dec 31 and are scheduled to end Jan 9.