Shillong, Aug. 9: Caught between a government curfew and another clamped by two women?s organisations, Shillong shut down completely and an uneasy calm descended on the city after two nights of violence.

Though the administration relaxed curfew for seven hours ? from 11 am to 6 pm ? in areas under Mawlai and Lumdiengjri police stations, very few ventured out of their homes.

The indefinite curfew took effect in northern Shillong at 6 pm yesterday, while the two-day ?dawn-to-dusk public curfew? declared by the Seng Longkmie and the Seng Kynthei began at 6 am today. The two organisations are protesting police action against women activists near the secretariat on Friday. Police had used water cannons and teargas to disperse a group of women who were demanding the release of two Khasi Students? Union (KSU) leaders.

The frenzy in Meghalaya is over how school education in the state should be managed. The KSU has been leading the campaign for reconstitution of the Meghalaya Board of School Education.

The women?s organisations behind the public curfew have convened a rally on Thursday to mount pressure on the D.D. Lapang-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government to release the arrested KSU leaders and end the impasse over the school education board.

The two organisations have, however, changed the venue from Jaiaw to Malki in view of the government?s indefinite curfew in northern Shillong. Speculation is rife about the possibility of the administration bringing Malki under the purview of the curfew.

East Khasi Hills deputy commissioner D.P. Wahlang told the media that permission for the rally would depend on a report from the superintendent of police on the situation. He indicated, however, that the district administration was against the idea of allowing any gathering.

New district police chief A.R. Mawthoh ? he replaced A.S. Rynjah, who was shifted to the intelligence cell at the police headquarters ? declined to reveal his assessment of the situation.

Eight MLAs, four of them from the Congress, met Lapang last evening to advise him to release the KSU leaders and immediately ask for a report from the committee that was constituted to suggest ways to revamp the school education board.