Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh's ancestral house was targeted by a mob on Thursday (Sep 28), but the attempt was foiled by the police who resorted to firing in the air. The house was empty as Singh lives in the official residence in the centre of the state's capital. As quoted by the news agencies, a police officer told the news agency PTI: "There was an attempt to attack the chief minister's ancestral house at Heingang locality in Imphal. Security forces stopped the mob around 100-150 metres away from the house."
The house was guarded by officials and more barricades were added. In order to reduce the visibility of the protesters, the authorities switched off the electricity connection in the entire area. Two groups of people came from different directions and approached the CM's ancestral residence but they were stopped," the police officer said, further adding that several rounds of tear gas shells were fired by RAF and state police personnel to disperse the mob.
In the early hours of Thursday, a mob vandalised the deputy commissioner's office in Imphal West district and torched two four-wheelers. The protesters also burnt tyres. The news agencies said that on Wednesday, curfew was re-imposed in the two districts — Imphal East and West — as the security forces tried to avert the violent protests, which saw 65 demonstrators being injured since Tuesday. In Manipur, violence broke out again on Tuesday in the aftermath of photos of the bodies of two youths — a man and a girl — went viral on social media platforms. They went missing in July.