Anti-CAA protests intensify, at least 6 killed in violence

NEW DELHI :

AT LEAST six persons died as violent clashes with police rocked Uttar Pradesh on Friday while thousands rallied in the national capital and several other cities with tricolour and ‘Save Constitution’ banners as part of raging protests across States against the amended citizenship law and the proposed NRC, prompting the Government to indicate it was ready to accept suggestions. A car was set on fire in Delhi’s Daryaganj area and protesters hurled stones at security personnel near Delhi Gate, while police used water cannons and lathi-charged a large group of protesters to disperse the crowd. Sporadic violence was reported from other parts of Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka-Kerala border areas as well, while authorities resorted to curbs on mobile Internet and SMS services in various regions, including in parts of UP, Karnataka and the national capital. Some groups, however, offered roses to the police to underline peaceful nature of their protest.

Heavy security was deployed in all sensitive areas, including those where large-scale protests took place on Thursday that saw at least three deaths including of two persons in police firing in Mangaluru. One person had died in Lucknow. Taking the nationwide toll to at least nine in two days, six persons were killed during protests at various places in Uttar Pradesh, where police retaliated with tear gas shells and rubber bullets after protests turned violent. Delhi Police said that “outsiders” were involved in the violence near Delhi Gate during protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

“We used mild force and water cannon, didn’t lathicharge protesters or lob tear-gas shells. Many of our personnel have been injured. Some people have been detained,” Delhi Police PRO Mandeep Singh Randhawa said. He said that a private car was set on fire by the miscreants and an investigation is underway. Director General of Police O P Singh told PTI that two people lost their lives in Bijnor and one each in Meerut, Sambhal and Firozabad. But officials reported a death in Kanpur as well. He said that over 50 policemen were seriously injured.

The raging protests also saw some allies of the ruling BJP voicing their concerns. Holding a protest march in Maharashtra, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) alleged that the Narendra Modi government wants to ensure only Hindus remain in India with its twin move of the new Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC). Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said that the Modi Government has shown utter disregard for people’s voices and used brute force to suppress dissent. She said that the CAA was discriminatory and the proposed NRC will particularly hurt poor and vulnerable.

A top official, however, said the Government is ready to accept suggestions, if any, from the people who are staging protests and asserted that various efforts were being made to clear doubts of the people about the new law. The Home Ministry is preparing the Rules for the CAA in consultation with the Law Ministry that will indicate the process to apply for Indian citizenship by eligible refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan under the legislation. The Central Government was prepared to face protests against the CAA after its enactment by Parliament.

“We had anticipated protests, at least in the Northeast,” he said. The national capital remained heavily barricaded but prohibitory orders and closure of several metro stations could not stop thousands from rallying near Jama Masjid area, soon after Friday afternoon prayers. As the day drew to a close, the protesters gathered at India Gate and Central Park, while carrying tricolour and ‘Save Constitution’ banners and also raising slogans against what they called attempts to divide the country on religious lines. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also joined the protesters at India Gate. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad led one of the largest protests, despite being denied permission to hold a march. Giving the police a slip from being detained, he raised slogans and read out the preamble of Indian Constitution.

The police was seen using drones to keep a vigil, while Delhi Metro gates were closed at some stations, including in the Old Delhi areas. Police also carried out a flag march in the north-east district which had witnessed violence on Sunday during continuing protests against the amended law, which seeks to grant speedier citizenship only to non-Muslims facing religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Delhi Mahila Congress chief and former President Pranab Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmistha and some other members of the party were detained near Home Minister Amit Shah’s residence during a protest against the new legislation. As many as 14 people were taken into preventive custody at the historic Mecca Masjid here after Friday prayers during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens, police said.

“We have taken 14 people into preventive custody at the Mecca Masjid. They were let off afterwards,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Charminar B Anjaiah said. Near Jamia Millia Islamia, which had seen massive police crackdown on students on Sunday, hundreds of people were seen wearing white caps with “No CAA No NRC” written on them. However, it was Uttar Pradesh that saw violent clashes breaking out at multiple places, including in Gorakhpur, Sambhal, Bhadohi, Bahraich, Farrukhabad, Bulandshahr and Firozabad, soon after Friday prayers as protesters hurled stones, torched vehicles and faced police action. Internet services remained suspended in about a dozen districts, including Aligarh, Mau, Azamgarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Sambhal and Allahabad. In Gujarat, a mob pelted stones at the police outside a mosque in communally sensitive Hathikhana area of Vadodara city, objecting to video-shooting of namaz congregation, which the officials said was being done as a preventive measure in the wake of anti-CAA protests.

Three persons were arrested while a senior official was injured in stone-pelting, the police said. In Maharastra, at least seven policemen and a local Government official suffered injuries in stone pelting during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Beed and Parbhani cities, police said. A State Transport (ST) bus was also damaged in the violence which broke out after a protest march in Beed city in the afternoon, Superintendent of Police Harsh Poddar told PTI. In Kerala, police kept high vigil in northern districts in the wake of the killing of two persons in Mangaluru in neighbouring Karnataka. A series of protest marches and blocking of trains and buses took place in various parts of Kerala past midnight after the news emerged about the deaths.

Anti-CAA protesters also blocked Karnataka State Transport buses in Kozhikode and raised slogans against the Mangaluru police action. The Kerala Road Transport Corporation has suspended bus services to Mangaluru. A large number of Congress workers blocked roads and burnt tyres in Kozhikode, while a group of activists also burnt an effigy of Home Minister Amit Shah. Karnataka police, on the other hand, restricted entry to Mangaluru for those coming from Kerala. At least 50 men and women who had arrived by a train from Kerala were taken into custody for trying to enter the city without identity cards. Some mediapersons were detained for entering the Government Wenlock hospital where the post-mortem of those killed in the police firing was underway. The journalists, who were from Kerala, were released later in the day.