Hundreds of children from a village in India's insurgency-wracked northeast have burned their toy guns in a symbolic protest against the violence that surrounds them, activists said Thursday.
The children, all younger than 13, held their protest Wednesday, carrying placards reading ''We hate toy guns, We love football'' as they marched to the local high school playground to light the bonfire.
''The children happily threw their toy guns, mostly look-alikes of AK-47 and M-16 rifles and 9mm pistols, and clapped as they went up in flames,'' said Amarjit Yumnam, one of the local peace activists who organized the event in Keinou, a village in Manipur state.
Keinou is some 25 miles south of state capital of Imphal.
Villagers said the protest was a reaction to the violence in Manipur, where at least 17 rebel groups have been fighting for independent homelands or autonomy. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the fighting in the past 10 years.
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