Protests against Citizenship Amendment Act in Ahmedabad turn violent; Congress corporator among 49 held for pelting stones at cops

Protests turned violent in Gujarat on Thursday after 26 police personnel were injured after a mob resorted to stone-pelting at a protest march against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the Shah-E-Alam area of Ahmedabad.

A Congress corporator and 48 others were arrested on Friday for the attack on police personnel during the protest on Thursday.  The protest in Shah-e-Alam area of the city turned violent forcing the police to lob teargas shells to disperse around 5,000 protestors.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Bipin Ahire, ACP RB Rana and JM Solanki, an inspector posted at Isanpur police station, were among the 26 policemen injured in the stone-pelting, they said.

“We have registered an FIR against 5,000 people. While 50 were named in the case, 49, including Congress corporator Shehzad Khan Pathan, were arrested on Friday. They have been booked for attempt to murder, rioting and assaulting police,” Solanki, who has suffered injuries on his head, said.

He added that the Congress corporator was detained on Thursday and arrested on Friday.

“When we were taking Pathan away in our vehicle yesterday, he asked the locals to take revenge and not spare any policeman. His provocation led to the attack on the police,” Solanki alleged. He added that the situation in the area was under control.

A video clip telecast by a local news channel purportedly showed agitators hurling stones at police vehicles. In the footage, some policemen could be seen taking cover behind police vehicles to save themselves. Another video purportedly showed some people thrashing police personnel who fell down from a moving police bus.

#WATCH Gujarat: Protesters pelt policemen with stones during demonstration against #CitizenshipAmendmentAct, in Ahmedabad. (Earlier visuals) pic.twitter.com/BAqk7LIWb9

— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2019

In another instance, a police van was attacked in Gujarat’s Banaskantha by protesters on the streets, reported  The Times of India.  

The Indian Express  reported that two Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) buses were damaged and services of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) were suspended for a few hours in the affected areas on Thursday. Many parts of old Ahmedabad also remained closed due to a bandh called in protest.

Alp-Sankhyak Adhikar Manch, an organisation working for the minority communities, had given a call for bandh in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

With inputs from PTI