GUWAHATI: Five police personnel were injured when a mob pelted stones targeting Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s office in Tura on Monday evening. Night curfew was imposed in Tura town.
The Injured cops were admitted to a hospital. Sangma escaped without injuries.
He was holding a discussion with some organisations which recently launched protests demanding the clearance of backlog of jobs meant for the Garo community and declaring Tura the state’s “winter capital”.
Official sources said Sangma was holding a peaceful discussion with the organisations for over three hours at the CMO, Tura when a mob emerged and carried out the attack.
“The Chief Minister had invited the agitating groups for a discussion in presence of all stakeholders. Meanwhile, a crowd of thousands of people gathered outside the CMO, Tura and started pelting stones,” the Chief Minister’s Office said.
The police retaliated by firing teargas shells to disperse the crowd and in the turn of events and commotion, five police personnel were injured, the CMO said, adding Sangma was overseeing the matter.
The leaders of the protesting organisations said the assailants were not their members.
Following the incident, a large number of policemen and CRPF personnel were rushed to the site.
Sangma said, “Incident is unfortunate. I met the protesting organisations, for I thought issues can be resolved only though dialogues. While the discussion was almost over, we heard sloganeering from outside. I sent some members of the protesting groups outside. Upon return, they said they had not seen these people (mob) before.”
“Necessary action will be taken as per the law. Sad that while we were trying to find a solution, this happened.”, the CM added.