Desk Correspondent , Imphal - A policeman was critically injured when hundreds of protesters tried to set ablaze a newly constructed Block Development Office in ethnic violence-hit Manipur’s Wangjing on Monday night. Takhelchangbam Romesh Sharma, 37, posted at the Wangjing police outpost, suffered severe head injuries during a clash with security forces. The mob had gathered at the site a day before Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand was scheduled to inaugurate the office. Timely intervention by security personnel prevented the building from being torched and brought the situation under control, officials said.

The attack occurred amid ongoing night torch rallies and protests across five districts demanding justice for a five-year-old boy and his six-month-old sister, killed in an explosion at Tronglaobi on April 7. A five-day shutdown has been in force since Sunday midnight, with thousands defying the imposed night curfew. On Sunday, police arrested 19 bandh supporters in the greater Imphal area as demonstrations continued under the banner of Meitei groups.

The incident is the latest flashpoint in Manipur’s ethnic unrest that began in May 2023 between Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities, claiming over 260 lives and displacing 60,000 people. On the day of the minors’ deaths, three protesters were killed in a separate clash in Bishnupur. A separate 72-hour shutdown has been called by the United Naga Council over the killing of two Tangkhul Nagas. The state government has handed the related ambush case to the National Investigating Agency for probe.