GUWAHATI, Aug 20: Demonstrators poured into the streets on Saturday in India’s revolt-hit northeast, demanding the lifting of a law giving soldiers unlimited powers to shoot on sight.

Some 2,000 to 2,500 people marched along the main thoroughfare in Imphal, capital of the troubled tiny state of Manipur, shouting “Stop human rights violations” and “Withdraw the draconian act”, police and witnesses said.

The demonstrators demand the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act that gives security forces powers to shoot on sight and make arrests without warrants.

The protest was organized by the Manipur chapter of the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International as part of a long-running campaign to pressure the New Delhi government to lift the law.

“People are being killed and raped with impunity by security forces,” T. Singh, one of the rally organisers, told AFP by telephone from Imphal.

Army and paramilitary soldiers followed the protestors in vehicles to avert any violence. “The march passed off peacefully without any trouble,” said police official Dhiren Singh.

Last year Manipur was convulsed by two months of protests against the law when a woman died in military custody after allegedly being raped.

The army denied the accusation of rape and says she was a rebel who was shot dead while trying to flee — an explanation which rights activists rejected.

New Delhi says the act imposed on the state in 1980 is needed to maintain order in Manipur. —AFP