Footwear littered at the site of the clashes in Barpeta on Wednesday and a placard used by the protesters. Telegraph pictures

Barpeta, July 21: At least four persons were killed and more than 50 injured in clashes between activists of the All Assam Minority Students’ Union and police as well as residents here today.

The Barpeta administration clamped Section 144 in the entire district while the AAMSU called a 12-hour Assam bandh — supported by the AIUDF — from 6am tomorrow.

Police said hundreds of AAMSU activists and supporters gathered in front of the deputy commissioner’s office at 11am to take part in a scheduled dharna staged to oppose the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The protesters shouted slogans against chief minister Tarun Gogoi and All Assam Students Union (AASU) adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya and threw stones at the security personnel, injuring 10 police personnel, including two CRPF jawans. About 20 vehicles parked on the premises of the deputy commissioner’s office were also damaged.

As the police resorted to lathicharge, the protesters turned violent and set ablaze 10 motorcycles parked in front of the deputy commissioner’s office, forcing the police to fire teargas shells and open fire.

Two persons, Majam Ali, 55, and Siraj Ali, 25, died on the spot while two others, Matleb Ali and Moitul Mullah, both 30, died at Barpeta Civil Hospital. Ten of the injured were referred to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. Of the 10, Maidul Islam, 27, succumbed to bullet injuries this evening. GMCH superintendent Ramen Talukdar said the condition of three to four persons, who had sustained head injuries, was critical and they were under constant observation.

Anowar Hussain, 35, one of the injured, told The Telegraph that he was beaten up by some unidentified youths. “I requested the youths with folded hands not to beat me but they did not stop till I became unconscious. I suspect there was a third force which fuelled the incident,” he said.

The town also witnessed clashes between the protesters and residents, who started attacking the AAMSU supporters allegedly for shouting anti-AASU and anti-Tarun Gogoi slogans. The clashes continued for over half-an-hour. The situation came under control following reinforcement of security personnel.

“Several AAMSU activists and supporters were injured in these attacks,” the president of the Barpeta district unit of the AAMSU, Unish Ali, told this correspondent. He said the stone pelting on security personnel was not carried out by AAMSU activists but by vested interests which wanted to give the student organisation a bad name. Condemning the police action, he said the situation could have been averted by “proper handling”.

Barpeta town wore a deserted look soon after the incident with shops and business establishments closing shutters for the day.

Later, AAMSU supporters pelted stones at Barpeta-bound passenger buses in the Jonai, Kolgosia and Howli areas and burnt the chief minister’s effigy at Bansbari in Goalpara district during a protest meeting.

The AAMSU has been demanding cancellation of the process of upgrading the NRC undertaken in Barpeta district and Chaigaon in Kamrup district as pilot projects in Assam. As part of the project, the citizens have been asked to attach some documents as proof of their Indian citizenship with the standard government form. These documents include the list of NRC 1951 and the electoral rolls of 1966 and 1971. The purpose of the NRC is to identify and enlist Indian citizens in the state.

AASU alleged the incident was instigated by a pro-Bangladeshi lobby to throttle the process of NRC update. The AASU adviser told reporters there was no justification in AAMSU agitating on the issue since the NRC would be updated on the basis of the voters’ list of 1971.

“There are enough reasons to believe that migrants across the border who came to the state after 1971 are threatened by the NRC update. The lobby of these illegal migrants backed by organisations like AAMSU is now trying to create a communal divide in the state in the name of NRC update. The AASU will not allow the issue to take a communal colour,” Bhattacharyya said.

Condemning the incident, the AGP said it was a complete failure on part of the district administration to control the situation. In a statement issued by the party’s Barpeta unit secretary, Liaquit Ali Khan, the AGP condoled the deaths and demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.