SHILLONG, July 24: A few residents of Shillong on Saturday joined the nationwide Awaken India Movement (AIM) against the mandatory vaccination and lockdown.
Not allowed to march on the streets primarily due to VVIP movement, the group of protestors staged a demonstration at the Mothphran parking lot.
AIM member Banshai Marbaniang said they were compelled to hit the streets as the state government is trying to take away their fundamental rights by forcing vaccination, mandatory masking and testing and discriminating based on the vaccine status.
He said that if people opting not to be vaccinated are harassed by being forced to test every 10 days. Displaying the vaccination status is another way of discrimination against people who have not taken the vaccine, he added. Marbaniang alleged many employees have been told to either get vaccinated or be sacked. “How will the daily wage earners and others live if they are asked to stay at home in the absence of any help from the state government?” he asked.
When pointed out that health experts worldwide have been advising masking to fight the pandemic, he said he is not a medical expert but people should not be harassed on the pretext of enforcing masking.
Marbaniang said the AIM members will call a similar protest in the days to come to drive their point home.
North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum, who came out in support of the movement said, “I also believe vaccination should not be forced.”
He said the freedom of speech and expression should be respected and forced vaccination has a psychological effect on those who do not want to take the jabs.
Vaccination hesitancy has been a major challenge for the Meghalaya government in the fight against COVID-19. The state is far from achieving the target of 80% vaccination.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya recorded 693 fresh COVID-19 cases while five more patienst succumbed to the viral infection on Saturday.
The state now has 4,708 active cases, while 54,875 people have recovered from the disease with 519 people recovering on Saturday.
The death toll from COVID-19 now stands at 1,014. All the five deaths were reported from East Khasi Hills.
Of the 693 new cases reported, 293 were from East Khasi Hills, 89 from West Jaintia Hills, 80 from Ri-Bhoi, 79 from West Garo Hills, 69 from West Khasi Hills, 27 from South West Khasi Hills, 26 from East Jaintia Hills, 12 from East Garo Hills, eight from South Garo Hills and five each from North Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills.
Among the new recoveries, 151 each were from Ri-Bhoi and West Garo Hills, 102 from East Khasi Hills, 27 from West Jaintia Hills, 25 from East Garo Hills, 23 from South West Khasi Hills, 11 from North Garo Hills, nine in East Jaintia Hills, eight in South West Garo Hills, six each in South Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills.
