Men play football carrying assault rifles in strange tournament warmup

A radical of men person been filmed brandishing battle weapons arsenic they warmup for a shot tournament.

The unusual show was captured astatine a colony successful the Kangpokpi territory of Manipur, a authorities successful northbound east India and shared connected social media.

In 1 clip a antheral wearing a fluorescent shot apical grins arsenic helium holds a firearm successful some hands portion dribbling the ball, and successful different a radical of men airs together- successful the aforesaid tops – smiling and holding their weapons up.

The shot tourney – thought to person happened connected January 20 – was portion of an lawsuit attended by astir 300 people, and besides featured taste performances and dancing, according to the Times of India.

An influencer called Nampi Romeo Hansong posted the video connected Instagram, which seemingly went viral, earlier aboriginal deleting it.

A Manipur foundation that supports the section taste Meitei colonisation posted a clip of the men connected X asking authorities to analyse and questioning whether the players were Kuki Militants.

The Meitei Heritage Society wrote: ‘This video of a shot tourney successful Manipur has gone viral connected societal media. What is profoundly disturbing is the unfastened show of blase weapons by the alleged footballers.

‘Or is it a shot tourney of Kuki Militants? We impulse the authorities to analyse this unfastened show of battle rifles.’

There has been ongoing unit successful Manipur betwixt the Maitei and Kuki-Zo communities since May 2023 implicit assorted issues, including onshore rights and governmental representation.

Each broadside has their ain militia, with members of the groups – often young men – regularly seen patrolling the country with military-grade grenade launches and battle rifles, according to NDTV.

Both sides assertion to beryllium ‘village volunteers’.

Security forces person tried to curb the violence, making respective arrests, but the unrest has continued.

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