Demonstrators protesting against a dam project on Friday vandalised and set fire to an office of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and a police station in Arunachal Pradesh’s Pasighat after security personnel fired tear gas during the agitation, a government official told Scroll.
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.
The buildings that house the office and the police station were not entirely burnt down, the Pasighat-based official said. However, the vehicles in their premises “were torched and the protesters threw stones at the police station”, the official added.
The violence followed the police firing tear gas at the protesters who were demanding the release of 10 persons who had been arrested earlier this month.
“The immediate cause of the violence was that the security personnel unprovoked fire tear gas shelling on the peaceful protest,” the official said. “The crowd got angry.”
Eyewitnesses told @scroll_in that anti-dam protesters have set fire to the NHPC office in Pasighat after police fired tear gas on peaceful protestors.
— Rokibuz Zaman (@ZamanRokibuz_) October 23, 2026
A statement from police is awaited. pic.twitter.com/BM53vcTw4E
The purported videos of the incident were widely shared online. In one of the videos, tear gas was seen...