One person was killed and 230 people were injured in Guwahati on Saturday when activists of a tribal students union went on the rampage while demanding Scheduled Tribe status. The students clashed with local residents near the high-security Assam Secretariat leading to imposition of indefinite curfew in the city.
Principal Secretary (Home) Subhas Das said that one person succumbed to his injuries at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital and the condition of ten people was critical.
Trouble broke out when over 5,000 activists of the All Adivasi Students' Association were marching towards the state assembly after holding a rally at Beltola demanding Scheduled Tribe status for the community.
The students vandalised property, torched vehicles, attacked policemen and injured a magistrate after they were obstructed by the police.
The protestors then attacked private property and shops and set ablaze cars and buses, said Das.
The local people, furious at their property being attacked, retaliated and clashed with the protestors resulting in injuries to both sides, he said.
Das said that an indefinite curfew had been imposed in the area but negated reports that the Army had been called in to control the situation.
