Author:
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: October 31, 2001
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/oct/31oris.htm
At least three tribals were killed,
and eight policemen injured in a bloody clash between tribals and police
in Nabarangpur district in Orissa, police sources said.
The sources said the clash took
place on Tuesday evening at Ranagabatti village, when the police was trying
to pacify the tribals, who were agitated on the issue of illegal migrants
from Bangladesh.
While police have recovered one
body of a tribal, two other bodies were missing. Several tribals injured
in the police firing were rushed to the government hospital at Raigarh,
the sources added.
The Director General of Police N
C Padhi said eight platoons of armed police have been deployed in the village.
"The policemen were forced to fire
when tribals started getting violent," Padhi said.
In the clash one policeman lost
his one eye.
Almost 4000 tribals, led by local
secretary of Dalil Samaj Sukhdev Gond, armed with bows and arrows and country
made guns marched towards Rangabhati and demanded the illegal migrants
leave immediately.
They threatened to set the houses
of the Bengali settlers on fire.
This is the second time in the last
few months that violent clash broken out in Raigarh over long standing
land dispute between tribals and Bengali migrants.
