A public rally against unemployment in Meghalaya’s capital city Shillong turned violent and several people including two journalists were injured. The rally was organised a tribal organisation – Federation of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) on Friday, as per media reports.
According to IANS, the police is yet to confirm how many people were injured during the rally in Meghalaya. The march began on the Guwahati-Shillong road leading to Khyndailad. What began as any other rally soon turned violent.
According to an eyewitness, some members of the FKJGP, many of them masked, punched, kicked and pushed passers by, causing panic. The violence also led to huge traffic jams, per IANS. Several vehicles were also damaged in the attack, according to local news reports.
Shillong: Police watches on as a mob of unemployable rioters assaults innocent passerbys without any cause during a rally protesting “unemployment”.@SangmaConrad @LahkmenR How does the state plan to identify these hooligans and make them work in jail? pic.twitter.com/nXsEaPyXkC
— Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra (@SSanbeer) October 28, 2022
Videos that were posted on social media from the Dhankheti junction, showed masked miscreants thrashing people, beating them up with flag poles while shopkeepers hurriedly shut downed the shutters as panic gripped the hill city. According to IANS, mostly non-tribals were targeted in the attack.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that police have been asked to take necessary and strict action.
FKJGP President Dundee Khongsit apologised for the incident and said that he did not expect such untoward incidents to occur.
“We have told our members before the rally that this is a peaceful rally. Our demand is to fill up vacant posts in the government departments as there are more than 7,000 posts lying vacant in different departments,” the tribal leader told reporters adding that the state government is not paying attention to the unemployment problem in the state.
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