Eleven more persons have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the attack on security personnel on eviction duty in lower Assam’s Goalpara district on Thursday morning.

The arrests were carried out on Friday night in Krishnai, taking the number of people arrested in the case to 21 since Thursday.

The clash between security personnel and a section of encroachers from the Paikan reserve forest had left four civilians and 21 forest and police personnel injured on Thursday, prompting the crackdown on those involved in the clash.

The eviction drive was carried out on July 12 to free about 1,038 bighas of reserve forest land, affecting 1,080 families settled there. The tension on Thursday morning raised questions about post-eviction preparedness. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has blamed the Congress leadership for the clash.

A 19-year-old had died of bullet injuries inflicted by the police who were purportedly trying to control the crowd who allegedly attacked the police and forest guards with “stones lathis, daos and spears”. Three others are undergoing treatment for bullet wounds.

Sarma posted X on Friday: “Buoyed by the aggressive speeches of Cong leaders (on July 16), some people took law into their hands and attacked police personnel. Our forces are ready for any such eventuality and will deal with it accordingly.”

On Saturday evening, Sarma said: “Our forests are for trees and animals, not for illegal settlers who grab lands with the ulterior motive of demographic invasion. We will PROTECT OUR LANDS at any cost.”

“Operation will continue till all those involved in the attack on the police and forest personnel are nabbed. The situation is peaceful. There is adequate deployment of security personnel and entry to the affected site has been prohibited,” an official said.

Reports suggest that the clash seemed to have been triggered by the digging up of a road by the administration to block movement to and from the affected area. This had been opposed by a section of evicted encroachers, leading to the flare-up in which police and forest personnel were attacked.

The police have registered a case under Krishnai police station under multiple sections of the BNS related to unlawful assemblies, rioting, criminal trespass, wrongful restraint, assault on a public servants on duty, attempt to commit murder, mischief in addition to Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, and trespass/damage to reserve forest under the Assam Forest Regulation Act, 1891.

A citizens’ meeting held in Guwahati Press Club on Friday opposed the ongoing eviction drives in the state, claiming it was being carried out to benefit influential corporate groups. The CPIML has also demanded a halt to the eviction drives.