Image Source: INDIA TODAY

Agencies

After a string of violent protests and subsequent disconnection of internet services in several parts of the Northeast including Assam, broadband services resumed in Guwahati on Saturday. However, mobile internet remains suspended.

Curfew has also been relaxed in Guwahati and Dibrugarh for a few hours.

The curfew has been relaxed in Guwahati from 9 am to 4pm and in Dibrugarh from 8 am to 2 pm, they said. Police are using loudspeakers to inform the public about the relaxations, they added.

This after violent agitations rocked the Northeast since the passing of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Upper Assam remains tensed

The city of Guwahati has been getting back on track but areas like Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Jorhat in the Upper Assam region remained tense with cases of violence being reported there. In the Upper Assam area vehicles were burnt and mobs indulged in vandalising public property. On Saturday morning there was a relaxation in curfew in Guwahati and shops that had remained shut for the last three days finally opened.

Anti-CAB protests continue in Bengal

Howrah: Anti-CAB / NRC protesters have blocked the national highway near Salap in Domjur. Protesters have burnt tyres. Police and RAF have been deployed in the area. Protesters have also burnt effigies of PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Murshidabad: Protests continue in Murshidabad district. On Saturday morning protesters vandalized the Nimtita station under Suti Police Station. On Friday Murshidabad’s Beldanga witnessed mob violence with angry protesters vandalizing the Beldanga rail station, police station and even attacked ambulances. Even cops were injured

North 24 Pargana: Protesters blocked a road in Hasnabad in Basirhat sub-division under North 24 Pargana district. Muslim organizations burnt the effigy of HM Amit Shagh Train services disrupted on the Sealdah- Hasnabad route under Eastern Railway for some time.

Long queues were seen outside shops in Guwahati at several places, including Dispur, Uzan Bazar, Chandmari, Silpukhuri and Zoo Road.

Auto-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws were plying across the city. However, buses were off roads. Petrol pumps in the city have also opened with vehicles waiting in lines to refuel.

Schools and offices, however, remained shut. After the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was cleared by Parliament, violent protests broke out across the state with agitators engaging in pitched battles with the police, forcing the administration to impose curfew in several places.

The legislation has put the entire Northeast on the boil where people fear that it may exacerbate the problem of illegal immigration.