COCOMI clashes erupt outside Hatta Kangjeibung, Sangai Festival 2025 site

Guwahati: There was high tension on Thursday at Hatta Kangjeibung in Imphal, the main venue of the Sangai Festival 2025, as police fired tear gas shells to disperse protesters mobilised by the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI).

Protesters, shouting slogans such as 'We boycott Sangai Festival' and 'Displaced Lives Matter', tried to storm the festival site at Hapta Kangjeibung, expressing strong opposition to the government's decision to proceed with the event amid the ongoing displacement crisis.

Security forces intervened immediately to prevent the crowd from breaching the venue, using tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.


The 10-day festival, which starts from November 21, is being held after two years.

Manipur valley-based civil society, the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), together with the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the people of Manipur, staged an agitation against the state government's decision to hold the Sangai Festival.

COCOMI convenor Khuraijam Athouba, in a statement, said his organisation expresses its strongest condemnation of the brutal and unprovoked action of the security forces against peaceful protestors, which resulted in injuries to several individuals.