Doomdooma: The arrest of Assam Jatiyatabadi Yuva-Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) leaders during a protest at the Nazirakhat Toll Gate in Sonapur on Wednesday triggered statewide protests, with the organisation’s Doomdooma unit in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district burning an effigy of the Assam Police.
The AJYCP Doomdooma regional committee staged a demonstration in the heart of the town, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of central president Palash Changmai, general secretary Bijoy Bayan and other leaders and workers detained during the Sonapur agitation.
“The Assam Police must immediately release all the arrested leaders and workers. Detaining people who are exercising their democratic rights is unacceptable,” protesters said.
The Doomdooma protest was part of a wider statewide mobilisation by AJYCP units in several towns and districts following the detention of its leaders at Sonapur.
“The protest is not confined to Sonapur. It has reached even small towns like Doomdooma because people across Assam are concerned about the condition of the highway and the manner in which protesters were detained,” an AJYCP functionary said.
During the Doomdooma demonstration, protesters raised slogans against the Assam Police and demanded the unconditional release of the detained AJYCP leaders and workers.
They alleged that the arrests amounted to an attempt to suppress peaceful democratic dissent.
The agitation comes days after the fatal Khetri-Dimoria road accident on August 30, in which seven people were killed amid concerns over road safety.
The Doomdooma unit warned that the agitation would be intensified if the detained leaders and workers were not released at the earliest.
Similar protests and condemnations were reported from different parts of Assam as the response to the arrests spread statewide.