The law and order situation in strife-torn Manipur took a dramatic turn on Thursday night as a mob tried to attack the ancestral house of Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh. Police said that the security forces foiled the attempt and stopped the mob around 100 metres away from the house.

The chief minister does not live at the ancestral home in Imphal and stays in his official residence.

“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,” a police officer said.

The police officer added, “Two groups of people came from different directions and approached the CM’s ancestral residence but they were stopped.”

Several rounds of tear gas shells were fired by RAF and state police personnel to disperse the mob. The authorities switched off the electricity connection in the entire area to help reduce the visibility of the protestors. More barricades were added to the previous ones near the house.

The incident occurred a day after the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or Afspa, was extended for another six months in the state, barring 19 police stations in the Imphal valley.

The northeastern state has been wracked by ethnic violence since early May between the two dominant ethnic groups. The clashes first broke out on May 3 in Churachandpur town after tribal groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the state’s reservation matrix, granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community.

The clashes have persisted despite the army’s presence in Manipur, a state of 3.7 million people.

Violent protests erupted again this week over the killing of a 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old girl – both belonging to the Meitei community – who went missing two months ago. At least 25 students were injured in Imphal on Wednesday as large crowds clashed with police during protests.

The chief minister has been facing criticism from multiple quarters for failing to control the law and order situation in the state with a history of ethnic clashes.

(With PTI inputs)