8 injured as clashes erupt between police and villagers opposing coal mine in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh

Raigarh: At least eight persons, including police personnel, were injured after an ongoing protest against a coal mining project turned violent in Tamnar area of Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district on Saturday, officials said.

A woman police officer also sustained injuries after she was allegedly assaulted by a group of women, police said.

Tension prevailed in Tamnar area after protesters indulged in stone-pelting and set ablaze three vehicles, including a bus and a car, and vandalised a police vehicle.

Hundreds of residents from 14 villages in the area have been staging a sit-in protest for the past 15 days at a square in Daurabhatha village, opposing the coal block allotted to Jindal Steel in the Gare Pelma Sector-I in the Tamnar area.

The protesters are also demanding cancellation of the proposed mining project, alleging that the public hearing conducted for its clearance was against the prescribed norms.

Villagers claimed the situation turned tense after police attempted to remove protesters from the demonstration site on Saturday morning.

At least eight people, including police personnel and villagers, were injured in stone-pelting during the incident, police said.

A group of women allegedly assaulted Station House Officer of Tamnar police station Kamla Pusam causing her injuries.

Some purported videos of the clashes went viral on social media, showing the woman police officer being assaulted by women in the crowd, while a few others were seen trying to shield her.

Raigarh Superintendent of Police Divyang Patel, along with additional police forces, reached the spot.

Police said the situation was tense but under control and security has been tightened in the area.

State Congress president Deepak Baij termed the clash unfortunate and blamed it on the state government's "stubbornness".

He alleged that the government was forcibly displacing villagers and tribals from their forests and land for coal mining.

Baij claimed that villagers and tribals protesting the alleged forcible allotment of the coal block and a "fake" public hearing in Tamnar's Gare Pelma Sector-I were subjected to police lathi-charge at the behest of industrialists, after which the agitated villagers retaliated.

He said the villagers were holding a peaceful agitation but were provoked by the government's approach.