The Sangai Festival in Manipur began on Friday (November 21, 2025) amid a protest by internally displaced persons (IDPs) and members of NGOs, impacting attendance.
Many are opposing the annual festival, held after two years, as they feel the State government should have resolved the ethnic conflict and resettled the IDPs before organising tourism events. The ethnic conflict between the tribal Kuki-Zo and the non-tribal Meitei communities broke out on May 3, 2023.
The protesters clashed with the police for the second successive day on Friday after they tried to storm the festival venue in the State’s capital, Imphal. The police fired tear gas shells to restore order after the protestors pelted stones at them.
The clashes occurred amid a “cease work” by the Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), a Meitei pressure group leading the protest. The organisation criticised the State administration operating under President’s Rule for pushing forward an “anti-people” festival.
Ahead of the protest, Manipur’s Rajya Sabha member and titular king Leishemba Sanajaoba accused an IPS officer of storming onto his residential compound.
