Anti-CAA protest: City turns into battlefield

new delhi: A demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act in New Friends' Colony near Jamia Milia Islamia university turned violent when four public buses and two police vehicles were torched after a clash with police. More than 60 people got injured during the protest, an official said.

Jamia Millia Islamia University denied any involvement of students saying that the violence that occurred in south Delhi during a protest by people of nearby areas against the amended Citizenship Act and not during student agitation.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said any kind of violence is unacceptable and protests should remain peaceful. "No one should indulge in violence. Any kind of violence is unacceptable. Protests should remain peaceful," he tweeted.

Later on Sunday night, scores of people gathered outside the old Delhi Police Headquarters to protest the force's handling of the situation. The protesters raised anti-police slogans after a call for it was given by the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union. Other students' bodies endorsed the protest call.

In another incident, hundreds of students of Aligarh Muslim University clashed with police at a campus gate after which police used batons and teargas to disperse them. In the wake of the prevailing situation, AMU will remain closed till January 5.

Soon after the violence, Jamia Millia Islamia Chief Proctor Waseem Ahmed Khan claimed that the Delhi Police entered the campus forcibly without any permission and beat up staff members and students who were forced to leave the campus. Even a students' body later said they had nothing to do with the violence and arson.

However, Police said they entered the university campus only to control the situation after protesters indulged in the violence.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said four buses and two police vehicles were torched during the protest, and six policemen were also injured. Biswal said some people have been detained but did not give details.

A Delhi Fire Services official said four fire tenders were rushed to the spot. One of them was completely damaged and two personnel were injured, he said.

The protest was being held against the contentious law which seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims religious minorities from three neighbouring countries who arrived in India to escape religious persecution.

As tension prevailed in the area, the city government announced the closure of all schools in southeast Delhi on Monday. The Delhi Traffic Police said in a tweet that the vehicular movement was closed from Okhla Underpass to Sarita Vihar due to the agitation. Vehicles coming from Badarpur and Ashram Chowk were diverted to alternative routes due to the blockade. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation closed entry and exit gates of several station including the nearby Sukhdev Vihar.

The incident triggered a blame game between the BJP and the AAP, with the two parties accusing each other of orchestrating the incident.

While the BJP demanded that the AAP should stop "provoking" people, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia alleged that the saffron party got police personnel to set buses afire during the protest. Sisodia tweeted photos from the protest site. He said it was clear in the photos, which showed police personnel standing beside buses, that the BJP used force to set the buses on fire as part of its "dirty politics".

Meanwhile, as protests continued in various parts of Bengal for the third consecutive day on Sunday, a senior government official said that internet services were suspended in six districts of West Bengal. Internet services were shut in Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, Murshidabad, Howrah, North 24- Parganas and parts of South 24-Parganas as the state convulsed with violence for the third successive day despite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's appeal for calm.

In another turn of event, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), an ally of the ruling BJP, said on Sunday that it would file a petition in the Supreme Court praying for revocation of the amended Citizenship Act.

The police on Sunday said that a total of 175 people have been arrested and 1,406 taken into preventive custody across Assam over recent violence.

Meanwhile, two more people protesting against the amended Citizenship Act in Assam succumbed to injuries on Sunday.

The deceased were identified as Ishwar Nayak and Abdul Alim. Both of them suffered bullet

injuries due to police firing

during clashes in Guwahati on Thursday. See P3&5