India’s Manipur orders internet blackout, curfew after ethnic clashes

India’s strife-torn northeastern state of Manipur ordered an internet blackout on Tuesday, after imposing a curfew following days of deadly ethnic violence and clashes between protesters and police.

Manipur has been rocked by periodic clashes for more than a year between the predominantly Hindu Meitei majority and the mainly Christian Kuki community, dividing the state into ethnic enclaves.

At least 11 people were killed last week as hostilities between the two communities erupted again after months of relative calm.

A notice from the state’s home ministry ordered all internet and mobile data services in the state to be shut off for five days in order to bring the latest unrest under control.

“Some anti-social elements might use social media extensively for transmission of images, hate speech, and hate video messages inciting the passions of the public,” the notice said.

“It has become necessary to take adequate measures to maintain law and order in public interest, by stopping the spread of disinformation and false rumours.”

Internet services were shut down for months in Manipur last year during the first outbreak of violence, which displaced around 60,000 people from their homes according to government figures.

Thousands of the state’s residents are still unable to return home owing to ongoing tensions.

‘Significant escalation’

Hundreds of Meitei people in the state capital Imphal defied a curfew imposed earlier Tuesday to demand security forces take action against Kuki insurgent groups, whom they blame for the latest spate of attacks.

Indian TV broadcasters showed the police firing tear gas in an effort to disperse the rally.

Student-led protests on Monday turned violent after the crowd threw stones and plastic bottles at security forces, police said in a statement.

Protesters in another district snatched arms from police and fired at them, the statement added.

“One police personnel was hit on the left thigh by a live round and another police personnel was hit in the face by an unknown projectile,” it said.

The protests were motivated by a series of insurgent attacks using “improvised” projectile weapons and drone attacks that killed 11 people last week, in what police called a “significant escalation” of violence.

Long-standing tensions between the Meitei and Kuki communities revolve around competition for land and public jobs.

Rights activists have accused local leaders of exacerbating ethnic divisions for political gain.

Manipur is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.