Protesters Clash With Cops In South Delhi Over Citizenship Law

New Delhi:

Violence broke out in Delhi this evening as students from the Jamia Millia Islamia gathered to protest the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA. Delhi Police and protesters engaged in a pitched battle in a posh South Delhi neighbourhood with cops using tear gas and resorting to lathi-charges after protesters broke cars and set at least three buses on fire. The cops have taken momentary control of the area, which now resembles a war zone, and are trying to push protesters back to the university.

In response to the violence in and around New Friends Colony, an expensive residential colony in the national capital, Delhi Traffic Police has closed vehicular movement from Okhla Underpass to Sarita Vihar. Protests also led to blocked tracts of the Delhi-Mathura Road, which is opposite the colony, while traffic from Badarpur and Ashram Chowk has been diverted.

Delhi Police have said they misjudged the scale of protest; they had anticipated a crowd of between 100 and 200 but are now faced with more than a thousand people, including both students and members of the public.

Miran Haider, one of the protesting students, has hit back at the cops, claiming the protest was peaceful till members of the general public, who may have misbehaved, were lathi-charged. Miran Haider also told NDTV that the protesting students were still inside the campus of Jamia Millia Islamia and would “follow Constitutional paths” to register their protest.

Najma Akhtar, the Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, has expressed concern over the safety and security of the students and asked those who left the campus to return.

“I appeal to students to keep peace. Everything will be all right but we can’t protect students if they leave the campus,” Ms Akhtar told NDTV, adding that some members of the public from the main road outside may have joined the protest.

“Anybody who goes out will go at their own risk,” she warned students who may have left the campus.

The clash, which comes a day after hundreds of Jamia students took out a protest march from their campus to Parliament to express opposition to the CAA, is the latest in a series of increasingly violent protests over the contentious law.

Massive clashes have taken place in the North East over the past few days, where at least four people died and thousands took to the streets despite a curfew and the deployment several columns of the Assam Rifles.

This morning two more people died of gunshot wounds from police firing to quell protests. At least 27 others have been admitted to hospitals like the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.

However, levels of violence have dropped in the state and curfews have been relaxed in several areas, including the state’s largest city, Guwahati.

The violence has also spilled over into neighbouring West Bengal, where trains were set on fire and roads blocked. Internet services in some districts were suspended today; according to ANI it has been suspended for a 48-hour period in Malda district.