Imphal, June 23 -- The historic Khwairamband Ima Market in the heart of Imphal witnessed a massive demonstration on Tuesday, as thousands of women vendors staged a sit-in protest to express their anger over the recent arrests of village volunteers by central agencies.

The protesters, a powerful and influential collective in Manipuri society, demanded the immediate and unconditional release of village volunteers by a joint team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Manipur Police last week, and also demanded the immediate release of three Arambai Tenggol (AT) volunteers.

Protesters also voiced concern over what they described as continued targeti...