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Employees of movie theaters in India's northeastern Manipur state are protesting after receiving threats from communist militants in the region. The militants are demanding each theater pay them more than 20 thousand dollars in order to be left alone.
Movie theaters in India's Imphal City have stopped screening films... after receiving threats and extortion demands from communist militants.
The employees say a group from the Kangleipak Communist Party demanded nearly $23,000 from every Hindi movie theater in Imphal, forcing the theaters to stop showing films.
[A. Tompok Singh, Movie Theater Manager]:
"Our theaters closed on April 23rd. We saw a threatening article in the newspaper, but we have not had a personal call or contact. We were told the communist party issued the threat, that's why we haven't opened our theaters."
The threats have resulted in protests... among them local actors in the film industry who say more than 3,000 people in the region make a living from the movie industry.
[Gokul Singh, Actor]:
"We are totally 100 percent affected because we are doing films from the last one decade and we are not only doing a business, I would say, we have dedicated our whole life for the sake of this art."
The protesters appealed to the communists to withdraw their demands and help in the development of Manipuri films.
Northeastern India has been ravaged by 50 years of bloody conflicts, and the region is a mix of languages, races, religions and civilizations, including 400 tribes and sub-tribes.
