Protests against Citizenship Amendment Act in Ahmedabad turn violent; at least 5 policemen injured in stone-pelting

Ahmedabad: A protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens in the Muslim-dominated Shah-E-Alam area in Ahmedabad turned violent on Thursday, with at least five policemen getting injured in stone-pelting. The police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob of around 2,000 persons. Protesters shouted slogans and held placards saying “No CAB No NRC”. When the police tried to disperse them, the protesters started throwing stones and brick pieces. A video clip aired by a local news channel showed agitators hurling stones at police vehicles. In the footage, some policemen at the site can be seen taking cover behind moving police vehicles to save themselves from the stones coming from both sides of the road. Another video showed some people thrashing policemen who fell down from a moving police bus. Assistant Commissioner of Police RB Rana was among the policemen injured in the stone-pelting. “I think at least five policemen were injured. I am not sure about the exact number. I was also injured,” said Rana. [caption id=“attachment_7799671” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Police personnel stop local residents who were holding a protest against Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC. PTI[/caption] Ahmedabad police commissioner Ashish Bhatia said the situation was now under control. “We will identify the perpetrators and lodge FIRs against them. Barring the stone pelting in Shah-E-Alam area, no untoward incident took place in the city today. We have also detained some persons,” he said. Earlier in the afternoon, police baton-charged people who gathered in Sardar Baug garden in Mirzapur area here to protest against the Citizenship Act and NRC. Police dispersed nearly 200 protesters as they had not obtained permission for the demonstration, and at least 20 of them were detained, said inspector F M Nayab, a local police official. The protest had been organised by Left parties including CPI and CPI(M) and their associated organisations such as the All India Democratic Students Organisations and Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist). “We had taken permission for the protest, but it was cancelled at the last minute. However, we had announced yesterday that we will go ahead with the protest,” said Bhavik Raja, member of the All India DSO. Elsewhere, Muslim outfits took out protest marches in different parts of Gujarat including Morbi and Banaskantha districts, demanding rollback of CAA and NRC. Alp-Sankhyak Adhikar Manch, an organisation working for the minority communities, had given a call for Ahmedabad bandh on Thursday. Markets and shops in some Muslim-dominated areas including Juhapura, Jamalpur, Gomtipur and Teen Darwaja remained closed, but elsewhere it had no major impact, the city police said. In view of the shut-down call, the police on Wednesday had said no rally or protest would be allowed.