Protests At Jamia, UP’s Rampur Against Citizenship Law: updates

Lucknow:

Protesters holding agitation against the citizenship law clashed with the police in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, this afternoon. Sources said the protesters broke police barricades and threw stones at the police, who responded with batons and tear gas. This morning, prohibitory orders were issued in areas around the Uttar Pradesh Bhavan in South Delhi’s Chanakyapuri. Protests are continuing at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia for the seventh straight day since Sunday’s violence. Uttar Pradesh witnessed widespread violence since yesterday, in which nine people died. Protests broke out in Old Delhi as well in afternoon and evening. More than 35 people were injured in the evening’s clashes with the police, who have been accused of using excessive force. Ten people have been arrested.

Mobile internet and broadband has been snapped across Rampur after the clash that broke out in the Idgah area.
In Chennai, the police have detained around 200 students near the city’s central station. They were attempting to block train service in protest against the new law. A four-member delegation of Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress will visit Lucknow tomorrow to meet the families of those who were killed in police firing in Lucknow. The delegation will be led by Dinesh Trivedi.

Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police OP Singh has said none of the protesters were killed in police firing. “We did not shoot even a single bullet,” he said, even as another officer claimed that “if any firing happened, it was from the protesters’ side”.

Protests were held in 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh yesterday – the list includes Saharanpur, Deoband, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Sambhal, Aligarh, Bahraich, Ferozabad, Kanpur, Bhadohi and Gorakhpur. Prohibitory orders banning large gatherings were imposed in most places and internet was shut down.

The national capital witnessed protests yesterday morning as Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad led a massive protest at the Jama Masjid and called for a march to Jantar Mantar. In the evening, hundreds of protestors took to the streets, defying prohibitory orders. the protesters were stopped at the police barricades at Delhi Gate, and violence broke out after a parked private car was set ablaze. Sources said at least 36 people, including eight policemen, were taken to the Lok Nayak Hospital with injuries.

Later, a number of protesters gathered outside the Delhi Police headquarters to demand the release of around 40 people who were detained. The Delhi Police, which came under fire for using excessive force, said they used neither batons not tear gas. Curfew has been imposed in some areas of Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district after a protest march against the citizenship law turned violent on Friday. The Congress-led state government had placed restrictions on large gatherings in 50 of 52 districts amid violent protests against the law across the country.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act for the first time makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries to get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution. Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principals of the constitution.