2 die in Assam eviction drive
The Hindu
Viral video shows a cameraman stomping on the body of a protestor shot by police.
Two persons were killed and 11 others, including nine policemen, injured when a large mob clashed with the police during an eviction drive in northern Assam’s Darrang district on Thursday afternoon.
The incident happened at Dholpur 3, one of four areas the police had targeted for evicting about 800 families of Bengali-speaking Muslims “illegally occupying” about 4,500 bighas of government land. A similar eviction drive on September 20 had passed off peacefully, with some families dismantling their houses and moving elsewhere, officials said.
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.