At least 60 people were killed in the suppression of riots that swept the Indian state of Manipur. According to Reuters, about 35 thousand people were forced to flee their homes.
Authorities said troops deployed to the state to quell the unrest have killed more than 30 suspected Kuki militants in the past two days, the Times of India reported . It is also reported that groups of people looted several army weapons depots. The authorities call the cookie fighters "terrorists" and accuse them of setting fire to residential buildings. Al-Jazeera, citing a statement by the head of the government of Manipur, Biren Singh, writes about 40 militants killed.
In early May, protests erupted in Manipur, in northeastern India, against government plans to grant tribal status to the Meitei people, who make up half of the state's population. This status provides economic benefits, for representatives of the tribes there are quotas for places in educational institutions, for holding public and elected positions. Representatives of small ethnic groups considered that granting such a status to the Meitei community would lead to infringement of the rights of minorities.
The protests turned into inter-ethnic clashes. To suppress the unrest, the Indian government sent several thousand armed soldiers to the state, whose population does not exceed 3.2 million people.
