69 arrested under Arunachal anti-terror law after protests against dam project turn violent

Sixty-nine persons have been arrested and four detained for their alleged role in the violence that broke out on Friday in Arunachal Pradesh’s Pasighat during a protest against a proposed dam, Inspector General of Police Hibu Tamang told Scroll on Tuesday.

Several organisations have been protesting against the proposed 12,500-megawatt power project on the Siang river. It will be built by the government-owned power company National Hydroelectric Power Corporation.

On Friday, protesters vandalised and set fire to an office of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and a police station in Pasighat after security personnel fired tear gas during the agitation.

An Itanagar-based senior police officer had told Scroll at the time that the homes of Pasighat West MLA Ninong Ering and Mariyang-Geku legislator Oni Panyang had also been vandalised, along with that of Kaling Moyong, the Bharatiya Janata Party state chief and former Pasighat East MLA.

On Tuesday, Tamang told Scroll that the police had filed 55 cases in connection with the violence. The arrests and detentions were made in Upper Siang, Siang and East Siang districts under the Arunachal Pradesh Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Those arrested face charges of rioting, torching of vehicles, as well as vandalism of office buildings and residential houses.

Twenty-six criminal cases have been registered in Upper Siang, 21 in Siang and six...

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