Imphal, March 11 Hundreds of people, mostly women, staged a demonstration here on Wednesday, demanding that illegal immigrants be identified through the National Register of Citizens (NRC) or any other exercise before the census in Manipur, police said.
A scuffle broke out between demonstrators and security personnel when the agitators attempted to march outside the Khwairamband market, one of the largest women-run markets in the country, prompting the police to fire several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the crowd, a senior officer said.
Three women sustained minor injuries during the protest, he said.
During the protest march, the demonstrators held placards with "Identify outsiders" written on them and raised slogans like "No NRC, No Census".
They attempted to march outside the market areas but were stopped by security forces.
"When they tried to breach police barricades, security personnel fired several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse the protesters," the officer said.
In another development, volunteers of 'Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation' locked the office door of the State Academy of Training at Takyel in Imphal West district.
They claimed that census-related training was underway at the academy office.
The JFD members demanded that displaced persons return to their original homes before the census is conducted.
Earlier this year, the Manipur government froze the administrative boundaries of all districts, tehsils, and villages in the state from January 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027, to facilitate the census exercise.