WATCH: Policemen fire at villagers protesting against power cuts in Bihar's Katihar

A new video of the incident in which two persons were killed after police opened fire at villagers protesting against power cuts in Bihar’s Katihar has surfaced. In the video shared by a twitter user, over a dozen police personnel, some of them armed, can be seen firing and charging towards the protesters who started hurling stones at them. The video also shows policemen pelting stones back at the protesters in retaliation. “This is not Kashmir but Bihar? Police firing on protesters outside Barsoi Power House in Katihar. Four-five people have been indiscriminately shot at. Of them, two people have died. Administration claims this is a self defence bullet,” wrote the twitter user.

On Wednesday, two persons were killed and more than a dozen police personnel and power department employees sustained injuries in the incident that took place barely 100 meters away from Barsoi police station, according to the police headquarters in Patna. “Nearly 1,000 local residents were staging a demonstration in front of the power department office. Some anti-social elements had found their way into the crowd and they started hurling stones. When a police party tried to quell the disruptors, they too were attacked with bricks, stones and sticks,” said the PHQ, which also shared photos of injured policemen. “Two of the protesters have died while another is undergoing treatment for injuries at the sub-division hospital,” PTI-Bhasha quoted Katihar District Magistrate Ravi Prakash as saying on Wednesday. One of the deceased, who died on the spot, was identified as Khurshid Alam (34), a resident of Baasal village. The identity of the second deceased was not known though he and the other injured protester were said to be residents of nearby villages. Katihar Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar, who was camping at the site of the incident, told reporters, “You can gauge the situation from the fact that there is hardly any portion of the power office left without tell-tale signs of the vandalism and stone-pelting.” With inputs from agencies