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Citizenship Amendment Act protest LATEST Updates: One person died and several people, including policemen, were injured as clashes broke out between anti-CAA protesters and police in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur on Saturday, officials said. Fifteen people were killed and 705 since 10 December were arrested in connection to the protests against the amended citizenship law in Uttar Pradesh, said Inspector General (Law and Order), Lucknow, Praveen Kumar. Delhi court denies bail to Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad, sends him to 14 days’ judicial custody over the Daryaganj violence, reports PTI. Anti-citizenship law protestors set Yatimkhana police post in Kanpur on fire on Saturday and indulged in heavy brickbatting, leading to injury to some people, a senior official told PTI. Police had to lob tear gas shells and use canes to chase them away. Fire tenders were rushed to control the flame. ADG (Kanpur) Prem Prakash said RAF has been called out along with ‘Vajr’ vehicles to control the situation. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has called a public rally against the amended citizenship law at Hyderabad’s Darussalam area. He will address the rally shortly. Clashes broke out between anti-CAA protesters and police in which several people, including policemen, were injured in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur on Saturday, officials said. The Uttar Pradesh Police chief on Saturday maintained that police did not open fire during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, suggesting that those who died were caught in cross-firing between protesters. A four-member delegation of All India Trinamool Congress will be visiting Lucknow tomorrow (Sunday) to meet the grieving families of those who were killed in police firing. The delegation which is expected to reach Lucknow on 22 December will be led by Dinesh Trivedi. The other members include MPs, Pratima Mondal, Md Nadimul Haque and Abir Biswas. “Our delegation is going to Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow) on a humanitarian mission to be with the grieving families of those killed and also meet those injured in the incidents,” read the statement. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Aazad has been arrested in connection with the violence in Old Delhi’s Daryaganj, police said on Saturday. Aazad’s outfit had organised a march from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar on Friday. He was initially detained and arrested later, police said. The total number of people arrested in connection with the violence has now reached 16, they said. More than 1,000 academicians from various universities across India on Saturday released a statement in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act. In the statement, they congratulated the Parliament for ‘standing up for forgotten minorities and upholding the civilizational ethos of India’ and ‘providing a haven for those fleeing religious persecution’. NCP president Sharad Pawar slammed the NDA government on Saturday, saying the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens were “ploys to divert” attention from serious issues plaguing the country. ‘CAA and NRC are ploys to divert people’s attention from serious issues that the country is facing,’ he told reporters in Pune. ‘Not just minorities, but those who care for the country’s unity and progress are opposing CAA and NRC. The new citizenship law will disturb and hurt religious and social unity and harmony of the country,’ he said. Five people have been detained for allegedly hurling stones during a protest in Northeast Delhi against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in which an additional deputy commissioner of police was injured, police said on Saturday. Additional DCP, Shahdara district, Rohit Rajbir Singh suffered minor injuries in the incident. He is doing fine now, they said. Police said five ‘outsiders’ from neighbouring areas have been detained in connection with the incident. It is suspected that they had come with an intention to create mischief, the police said. Thousands of RJD supporters fanned out across Bihar on Saturday, disrupting rail and road traffic while trying to enforce a statewide shutdown in protest against the new citizenship law and the proposed NRC. In the state capital, hundreds of party supporters - among whom children could also be seen - stormed railway stations and bus stands carrying sticks and party flags but they were chased away by police personnel. Fifteen people have been arrested in connection with the violence in Daryaganj in Old Delhi during a protest against the new citizenship law, police said on Saturday. Initially, 10 people were held but five more were arrested later, they said. Those arrested have been charged with rioting and using force to deter policemen from doing duty, police said. The bloody clashes in the wake of contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill have claimed more lives in all of yesterday in Uttar Pradesh alone. The northern state, which witnessed violence in sensitive areas with a dotted history of communal violence, saw loss of at least 11 lives, which included a child of 8 years if age. Ten people have been arrested in connection with the violence in Daryaganj in Old Delhi during a protest against the new citizenship law, police said on Saturday. Internet connectivity and mobile services will remain suspended in at least 21 districts of Uttar Pradesh as the entire nation becomes galvanised to protest citizenship law. According to CNN-News18, Section 144 has been imposed in Gorakhpur. The toll in clashes between demonstrators and police over the contentious citizenship law has claimed to nine, spreading to at least 14 locations in Uttar Pradesh, reports said. In this more than a week of unrest, the national toll in the protests over the newly enacted law has risen to 17 so far. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad was taken into police custody from outside the Jama Masjid in the early hours on Saturday morning. He was inside the mosque in protest against the newly amended Citizenship Act. “We have to make sacrifice so that the legislation is taken back. We do not support violence. We were sitting inside the mosque since Friday morning and our people were not involved in violence,” he said. Azad had given the Delhi Police a slip to reach the Jama Masjid on Friday. Friday’s was the deadliest protest since demonstrations started against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, with six people losing their lives in clashes between the demonstrators and the police across Uttar Pradesh. Protests were largely peaceful through the day in Delhi but turned violent in Dariyaganj after “outsiders” entered the crowd. Violent protests were also seen in the Marathwada region in Maharashtra. Karnataka’s Managaluru remained inaccessible to outsiders a day after two were killed in police firing. Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court slammed the state for arbitrarily cancelling permission to protest by imposing Section 144 in Bengaluru. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry also issued an advisory on Friday asking news channels to refrain from broadcasting content which is “likely to instigate violence or which promotes anti-national attitudes”.
Six killed in deadliest protests in Uttar Pradesh According to Uttar Pradesh officials, six people were killed as anti-CAA protesters clashed with police after Friday prayers at several places in Uttar Pradesh, hurling stones and torching vehicles, officials said. However, Director General of Police OP Singh confirmed only five deaths during the violence in about 20 districts. Singh told PTI that two people lost their lives in Bijnor and one each in Meerut, Sambhal and Firozabad. But officials reported deaths in Kanpur as well. Several people were injured. The DGP said 50 policemen were seriously hurt. The violence comes a day after police dealt with angry protesters in Lucknow and Sambhal districts — and amid internet curbs in many districts to curb rumour-mongering. Stone-pelting or more serious clashes with police were also reported from Bhadohi, Bahraich, Amroha, Farurukhabad, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Hapur, Hathras, Bulandshahr, Hamirpur and Mahoba districts.
At many places, police used lathis, lobbed tear-gas shells and, according to some officials, rubber bullets when they failed to contain angry mobs. Police were often targeted when they stopped people from taking out processions in defiance of prohibitory orders in places all over the state. At least six vehicles, including those of police, were set ablaze in Firozabad, forcing police to use tear-gas shells to disperse the mobs. In Meerut’s Islamabad locality, protesters targeted a police post, setting fire to some furniture and a motorcycle parked nearby. Half a dozen vehicles, mostly of policemen, were also torched in Kanpur’s Babupurwa area and six people were hurt in the city, Additional DG (Kanpur zone) Prem Prakash said. Internet services were suspended across major cities in Uttar Pradesh, following state government orders. These included Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Agra, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Mathura, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Bareli, Firozadad, Pilibhit, Rampur, Saharanpur, Shamli, Sambhal, Amroha, Mau, Azamgarh and Sultanpur. ‘Outsiders’ turn protests in Dariyaganj violent; 40 detained Stones, footwear and bloodstains on streets were the remnants of a protest against CAA, which began peacefully at Jama Masjid but ended with arson two kilometres away near the Daryaganj police station on Friday. Police used water cannons and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse protestors as they hurled stones at security personnel. Police, however, denied baton charging the protesters and using teargas, saying it used “mild force” and water cannon. Some people, who, police said, were “outsiders” set ablaze a car outside the police station near Delhi Gate and several vehicles were also damaged during the protest. The Rapid Action Force (RAF) is now conducting a flag march in the area. The Delhi Police detained 40 people in connection with the violent protest in Daryaganj, 5-6 of whom, are minors, Uday Singh Rana, a journalist with CNN-News18 tweeted. In a series of tweets, he said that the police initially didn’t allow the detainees access to lawyers or doctors. However, it later released a list of detainees to lawyers gathered outside the police station. Some of the minors who have received injuries were taken to the LNJP hospital for medical treatment.
One lawyer has just come outside. She's managed to get a list of detainees. There are 32 adult detainees. Lawyers say are 5-6 minors with police who've been taken for medical treatment to LNJP Hospital. #CAAProtests #CAA_NRC_Protests
— Uday Rana (@UdaySRana) December 20, 2019
Delhi Police PRO Mandeep Singh Randhawa had told PTI that the protests were largely peaceful and insisted that it was the “outsiders” who were inciting the people, many of whom, he said, had already dispersed before the violence broke out. Playing hide and seek with Delhi police, Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad on Friday surfaced inside Jama Masjid, hours after the security personnel tried to detain him during the outfit’s march against the amended citizenship law. Aazad later told PTI he snuck into the mosque, ducking a number of police personnel looking out for him, by wrapping himself in a long shawl to hide himself. “Those who are indulging in violence are not our people. Our peaceful protest continues at the historic Jama Masjid. Ambedkarites do not indulge in violence. Those indulging in violence are from RSS and not from our outfit. I am at Jama Masjid and will stay here. Those who commit violence want to weaken our movement,” Aazad tweeted in Hindi. There were large gatherings also in the areas of Seelampur, Shastri Park, Jamia Nagar and Shaheen Bagh. Senior officers, with the help of prominent locals of the respective areas, constantly persuaded them and they were dispersed peacefully, the officer said. Scores of people also gathered at the India Gate to voice their dissent against the new citizenship law and a proposed countrywide NRC. Raising slogans of ‘Azaadi’, ‘No NRC, No CAA’, the protesters, most of them college students, demanded that the new law be repealed. Marathwada sees violence, but Maharashtra largely peaceful Protests against the CAA took a violent turn in Beed, Parbhani, Nanded and Hingoli districts of Marathawada region of Maharashtra with at least a dozen persons injured in stone-pelting. Miscreants also targeted State Transport (ST) buses, even as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray appealed for peace and assured that no citizen would be deported when the CAA is implemented. At Ambajogai in Beed district, protesters pelted stones at an ST bus. Another bus was damaged in stone-pelting in Basheergunj area of Beed city following a protest march in the afternoon, Superintendent of Police Harsh Poddar told PTI. In Pune city, over 10,000 people took out a protest march, which started at Babajaan Durgah in Cantonment and ended at District Collector’s office. In Nagpur, where the Winter Session of the Maharashtra legislature is underway, thousands of people took part in a protest march. Participants included members of Darul Uloom Amjadia, Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind, Jamaat-E-Islami Hind. A delegation of protesters also met Chief Minister Thackeray at the legislature complex. In Bhiwandi in Thane district, thousands of people took part in a peaceful protest march. In Nashik, RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad held a rally in support of CAA. In Mumbai region, protests were held in Wadala, Kandivali, Navi Mumbai and Fort. Mangaluru out-of-reach for Kerala, Congress leaders Roads in Mangaluru wore a deserted look and educational institutions were closed, officials said, adding that the situation was likely to continue on Saturday as well. However, stray incidents of stone-pelting and attempts to protest against Thursday’s killing were reported from some places in and around Mangaluru, which police contained by baton charging them. Two people were killed in police firing in Mangaluru on Thursday as the protest against the CAA turned violent. Meanwhile, the mortal remains of the two men were handed over to their family members for the last rites amid tight security after post-mortem, police sources said. Entry for those from Kerala to Mangaluru, where curfew has been clamped till 22 December midnight, was restricted at the Thalappady border as police checked identity cards before allowing them in emergency cases. Eight journalists and camera crew of Kerala-based TV channels, who had interviewed relatives of those killed in the police firing during protests were released and taken to Thalappady bordering Kerala, seven hours after being detained by police in front of the Government Wenlock hospital on Friday, sources said. On the other hand, a delegation of senior Congress leaders who landed in Mangaluru to meet those injured and bereaved families of the two deceased in the violent protests were denied permission and detained at the airport here. The Karnataka High Court slammed the state police on Friday for arbitrarily suspending permission to organise protests and imposing Section 144 in Bengaluru while hearing a batch of petitions on restrictions imposed in the city. Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Abhay S Oka posed a volley of questions to Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi, appearing for the state government, in which he asked how could the police cancel permissions that were already granted overnight via a sweeping order under Section 144, according to Bar and Bench. It also asked Navadgi if the state wanted to send school students to jail, to which, the Karnataka Advocate General replied, “I don’t know”. “Do you (state) want to take school students to the police station? Can state go under the assumption that every protest will disturb the peace? Are you going to ban each and every protest? How can you cancel permission of a previously granted order?” the report quoted Justice Oka as saying. Assam continues protests amid joy over the restoration of internet services In Assam, protestors came to the street with traditional Assamese ‘gamosas’ tied around their heads and shouted slogans against the CAA. Protests against the Act was also held across the state by different organisations. Silpi Samaj, which is at the forefront of the agitation against the Act along with AASU, organised a massive rally at Hajo in Lower Assam in which popular singer Zubeen Garg was present. The All Assam Lawyers Association (AALA) took out a ‘Raj Bhawan Chalo’ and submitted a memorandum to Governor Jagadish Mukhi demanding withdrawal of the Act. A torchlight procession was taken out this evening of Sanmilita Songram Parishad, a platform of 51 organisations formed to demand the revocation of the Act.
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