Over 600 tribals from Majjigaruvu village in Gangaraju Madugula Mandal (administrative sub-division) in Visakhapatnam District of Andhra Pradesh took out a rally in the District to protest against the atrocities committed by the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) on November 27, reports The Hindu. The tribals demanded that the Maoists stop killing innocent tribals branding them as‘police informers’. Significantly, to counter the protest rally, the Maoists also mobilised about 300 tribals from various villages to stage a dharna at the same area. The Superintendent of Police (SP), Attada Babujee said, “Both groups then had a face-off. They engaged in a debate and the former group was able to convince the latter that supporting the Maoists will not do any good”. The discussion was held in the presence of senior Police Officers such as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of Narsipatnam town, Krishna Rao, Assistant Superintendent of Police (Chintapalli town) Satish Kumar and Deputy SP (Paderu village) Rajkamal. Attada Babujee added that the group supporting the Maoists was convinced that they were being exploited by the LeftWing Extremists [LWE] and development was the only way forward.