Firing continued through the night in Manipur’s Kwakta area even as multiple attempts to mob various establishments in Imphal were reported through the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
According to security sources, automatic weapons were fired and firing continued till around 9.15 pm from Kwakta and Kangvai, which are at the border of Bishnupur district in the valley and Churachandpur district in the hills. The firing resumed again at around 9.45 pm and intermittent bursts of firing have continued to be reported since then.
In Imphal, where the atmosphere has been tense for the past three nights, there were clashes on Friday evening between the state’s Rapid Action Force (RAF) and a mob that had torched a warehouse belonging to a retired IAS officer from the tribal community. Several such attempts continued through the night.A mob of a few 100 gathered near Thongju at around 10.40 pm, attempted to vandalise the residence of BJP BLA Bishwajeet Singh and was dispersed by an RAF column. There was also an attempt to loot the Iringbam police station close to midnight, which was dispersed by the RAF.
There were at least two other instances of mob build-up. A mob of 200-300 gathered around the BJP office at Singjamei a little after midnight, and separately, there was an attempt to vandalise the residence of BJP Manipur president A Sharda Devi in Imphal West. In both instances, the crowd was dispersed by Army columns and the RAF.
