Over 30 people were injured, three of them in police firing, as the situation in Manipur worsened on Saturday with hundreds of agitators attempting to court mass arrest to press for the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act from the state.

For the first time in the three-week-long agitation, police opened fire on agitators in Imphal East and West districts, injuring three persons, official sources said.

The police, which had been using rubber bullets, teargas and smoke bombs since the beginning of the agitation, opened fire when the agitators surged ahead to court mass arrest at Lamlai and Wangoi, near Guwahati, they said.

Elsewhere in the state, the police fired teargas shells, rubber bullets and used smoke bombs injuring 27 people, after lathi-charges failed to disperse the protestors, they said.

Clashes were reported from many places, including interior Sekmai, Lamsang, Lamlai, Mayang Imphal, Wangoi, Moirang, Nambol, Bishenpur, Thoubal, Yaiskul, Wangkhei, Khurai, Tera, Kongba, Kwakeithel, Uripok, Thangmeiband and Sagolband in Imphal and Greater Imphal areas.

The agitators have threatened to close all state and central government offices from Monday if their demand is not met, the sources said.