They are protesting against the increasing brutality of the Indian army.
Violence marks Assam bandh
The 12 hour Assam bandh called by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Tuesday evoked widespread violence with activists assaulting senior railway officials and setting ablaze vehicles at buildings. AASU activists, protesting against the February 10 police firing at Kakopathar in Tinsukia district, assaulted North-East Frontier Railway’s chief commercial manager Kaushik Mukhopadhaya and his driver with iron rods and smashed the vehicle in front of the railway headquarters at Maligaon. Around 200 vehicles were damaged across the state. More than 400 AASU activists were detained later. The Bengali-dominated Barak valley created history by supporting the bandh. At least 10 vehicles, including a Hindustan Paper Corporation (HPC) staff bus and an Assam State Transport Corporation bus, were ransacked by bandh supporters in the valley.
Schools, colleges and business establishments remained closed in Guwahati and its adjoining areas. Bandh supporters partially damaged the official vehicle of the commissioner of lower Assam. No one was, however, injured during the bandh. AASU president Sankar Prasad Roy said the bandh was total success. He said the state government’s failure to control the situation at Kakopathar, followed by Army atrocities, prompted the student body to go for a bandh.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1415326,curpg-1.cms