No one had called for a shutdown on Wednesday but the streets of Guwahati heaved with thousands of seething students and many bonfires lit in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, prompting the administration to deploy the army in the evening.

By evening, Guwahati resembled a war zone reminiscent of the explosive days of the Assam Agitation.

The city police conceded that the situation was turning uncontrollable because protesters were pouring in from all sides.

• At 6pm, curfew was imposed in the city till at least 7am on Thursday when the security situation would be assessed afresh.
• At 7pm, mobile Internet services of all carriers across 10 of the 33 districts in Assam were suspended for 24 hours through a notification on the fear that the protests might intensify and spread. The 10 districts are Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Kamrup (metro) and Kamrup.
• By 8pm, the army was called out in Guwahati. Two columns (each column has 70 personnel) of the army have been deployed in the city, defence PRO Lt Col P. Khongsai said.

A column has been kept on standby in Bongaigaon district in Lower Assam, about 190km from Guwahati.

Field commanders and the army headquarters are also monitoring the situation in Assam closely, sources said.

A former home department official said the army was last called out in Guwahati after the serial bomb blasts on October 30, 2008.

Apart from the army, police and CRPF personnel are patrolling the streets of Guwahati. Commando Battalions have also been deployed with fire tenders. Some streets began clearing up at night.

• Ulfa (Independent) leader Paresh Barua warned Assam police to abstain from using any force on the protesters. Calling a local TV channel from an unknown location, Barua said: “Ulfa (I) wants to ask the newly appointed director-general Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta to maintain restraint and not to use force upon the students and others who are opposing CAB. The police must realise that they are confronted with people of Assam and no one should get hurt or to face the music.”

In Guwahati, led primarily by the students, the unparalleled protest in recent memory drew government employees, traders and the aged from every corner of the city.

Many in Assam and several other parts of the Northeast fear that the citizenship bill might upset the region’s demographic balance and cultural influences. Guwahati police commissioner Deepak Kumar told The Telegraph: “Most of the protesters are students from around 20 to 25 various city-based colleges and universities. Similarly, the protests have been staged at around 25 different locations in the city. We are trying our best to convince them to maintain peace. However, the difficulty is, the protesters are coming out from all directions. The protesters are scattered. It is becoming uncontrollable.”

Joint police commissioner Debaraj Upadhaya added: “We are prepared to tackle any eventuality.”

Although a shutdown was called on Tuesday, there was no such appeal for Wednesday. The protests without any visible leadership coincided with the debate on the bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The sounds and sights familiar during the Assam Agitation resurfaced. “Aahoi-aah, ulai aah (come one, come all), “Joi Aai Axom (Glory to Mother Assam)”, the anthem of the Assam Agitation, rent the air.

Some of the protesters tried to barge into the Assam Secretariat that houses the office of the chief minister and ministers. Para-military forces had been called in and Rapid Action Force was on standby. Employees were stranded within the secretariat till late in the evening, sources said.

In the Ganesghuri area, the protesters damaged platforms and decorations that were being put up ahead of the visit of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a summit in the weekend.

They burnt most of the decorations.

Thousands of students hit Guwahati’s busy GS Road, triggering a volatile situation that resulted in lathicharge and use of tear gas and water cannons after protesters tried to break through police barricades.

The protesters lay siege to the road and gathered at the secretariat entrance and the Assembly gates.

Shops and business establishments downed shutters. Over a dozen protesters were injured and several vehicles damaged, including a few that were set on fire by protesters.

The protesters also burnt tyres, logs and bamboo poles — whatever they could lay their hands on along the road. Flames from burning tyres and wood lit up the evening sky.

Stones were thrown in Dispur and Ulubari. Near Dispur, the protesters snatched a water cannon and turned the jet on the security personnel. The security forces fired in the air to disperse the crowd.

The protest continued late into the evening, disrupting traffic. Vehicles moving in and out of the city were stranded for hours.

Jyotishmika Das, 22, Shyamalika Dutta, 25, and Anjan Bora, 27, — all bank employees — said while joining the protest at Dispur, where the secretariat is located: “We left office to showcase our solidarity towards our brothers and sisters who are crying on the street to protect our motherland, Assam. Our job is not costlier than the dignity and pride of our motherland.”

“I am a student of HS final year and I have exams. We are protesting to save our language and to save our literature which has been written by our forefathers. If we don’t protest now our future generation will not forgive us,” said Himakshi Chaudhary, a student of B Borooah College and great granddaughter of Raghunath Chaudhary, who was a well-known writer of the state and a freedom fighter.

Holding aloft placards, the protesters raised slogans such as “Ei jui jolisey, …joloboi (the fire has been ignited, and it would continue), “BJP go back, go Back… go back”, “RSS go back”, “We reject CAB, We oppose CAB, AGP go back”, “ABVP go back”, “Narendra Modi down, down”.

Some students also shouted slogans like “Dil mange kaid se azadi, Modi sey azadi, RSS sey azadi, Sarbananda (chief minister Sonowal) sey azadi, Himanta (minister Sarma) sey azadi bolo CAB sey azadi….”

“The anti-bill movement has started from Assam and it should be spread across the country as the bill violates the basic structure, preamble and Article 14 of the Constitution. If the bill is passed, Assamese will lose cultural and linguistic identity,” said Matiar Rahman, former general secretary Gauhati University and B Borooah College.