GUWAHATI: Two persons were killed and at least ten others, most of them policemen, were seriously injured on Thursday after the force opened fire on protestors demanding rehabilitation of 800 families evicted by Assam's Darrang district administration, police said.
The evicted families had launched a protest at Sipajhar demanding that the eviction be stopped and that they be provided with a comprehensive rehabilitation package.
Trouble broke out when a mob of protestors, who were armed with sharp weapons, started pelting stones and attacking policemen and general people present at the spot, Darrang Superintendent of Police Sushanta Biswa Sarma said.
The police opened fire in self defence and soon the two sides came to blows in which two people, both civilians, were killed and at least ten others were injured, he said.
Most of the injured were policemen and the condition of an assistant sub inspector Moniruddin was stated to be critical by doctors treating him.
He has been shifted to Gauhati Medical College Hospital, he said.
The dead have been identified as Saddam Hussain and Sheikh Forid, Sarma said.
The situation was later brought under control and the mob dispersed.
The eviction is on in Dholpur I and Dholpur III villages despite the tension after the clash with the police.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Guwahati that there will be no stop to the ongoing eviction.
"The police has been entrusted with the responsibility of clearing the land of illegal encroachers and they will continue till the job is done''.
The eviction will stop when it turns dark and resume again on Friday, he added.
The Darrang district administration has cleared 602.
04 hectares and evicted 800 families since Monday and demolished four "illegally" constructed religious structures at Sipajhar, officials said.
The chief minister had visited the area on June 7 and inspected the riverine areas allegedly encroached by ''illegal settlers'' near Dholpur Shiva Temple and had directed the district administration to clear the area for a community farming.