Citizenship Act protests in Jamia Millia Islamia turn violent as students, cops clash; several, including policemen, injured

New Delhi: The Jamia Millia Islamia University turned into a battlefield on Friday after police and students, who wanted to march to Parliament House to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act, clashed with each other prompting AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan to reach the spot to take stock of the situation. Forty-two students were detained following a violent clash between police and students after the protesters were stopped at the varsity gate and prevented from carrying out their march. According to police, 12 police personnel were injured and two of them with relatively serious injuries are under observation in ICU. The University administration said around 100 students sustained injuries in the clash and around a dozen students were seriously injured. Police said they had to resort to tear gas as the protesters broke barricades and indulged in stone-pelting. [caption id=“attachment_7781001” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Students of Jamia Millia Islamia University clash with the police during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act. PTI[/caption] The students, who were baton-charged by police personnel, alleged that the police used tear gas to quell their march. Police claimed that some students pelted stones from inside the university premises prompting personnel to enter the varsity and baton-charge the students. However, the protesters alleged that police resorted to stone-pelting first and students threw stones in response to the attack. The protesters, numbering around 1,000, started their march from Gate number 7 of the varsity campus and started marching towards the Sukhdev Vihar metro station. As they marched towards Sukhdev Vihar, they raised slogans like ‘NRC Hai Hai’, ‘CAB Waapis Lo’, ‘BJP Hai Hai’ and ‘Inquilab Zindabad’. The students also carried a blackened effigy of Home Minister Amit Shah. Police had placed barricades near Gate number 1 of the campus and the students climbed over the barricades and tried to break them in order to march ahead. However, they were stopped by police who used force to deter them. While the student retreated for some distance, they returned, and stones started flying towards the police personnel from both sides of the road and even from inside the gates of the varsity. As the protests turned violent, police used tear gas to disperse the crowd. The University’s gate was later closed. Videos circulated by students on social media showed police caning the protesters. “We were marching peacefully and police stopped us from marching. First, they lathi-charged us asking us to move backwards. Then they pelted stones in response to which students picked up stones too,” Onaihza, a law student at Jamia, said. Another student alleged that police personnel pelted stones and then used tear gas that resulted in many students being injured. Police, however, denied the allegations. “Students started their march. We had placed barricades which they broke and tried to jump over them. Then they threw stones at us forcing us to use teargas shells. The students have been detained and taken to Badarpur police station,” a senior police officer present at the stop said. Area MLA Amanatullah Khan from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. Former Congress MP Parvez Hashmi was also present on the spot and demanded that the detained students be released. As a precautionary measure, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) closed the entry and exit points at Patel Chowk and Janpath metro stations following Delhi police’s advisory. “As advised by Delhi Police, entry & exit at Patel Chowk and Janpath have been closed. Trains will not be halting at these stations,” DMRC said on twitter. The stations were opened an hour later. Traffic was also affected around the area. The Traffic Police said the movement of vehicles was closed on both carriageways from Jamia Millia Islamia to Sukhdev Vihar and from Mathura Road to Sarai Jullena. The police claimed the protesters who were coming from Jamia Millia Islamia were persuaded to protest peacefully near the campus only since Jantar Mantar was already saturated with people and requested not to march towards New Delhi. However, they got agitated and aggressively confronted the police personnel, police said. They broke barricades and indulged in stone-pelting at police personnel which also caused damage to parked vehicles, they added. Police had to lob tear gas shells with use of limited force to disperse the protesters, police said, adding that 42 protesters were detained and subsequently released.