Anti-CAA protests gain momentum; 10 arrested in Jamia violence case

Countrywide agitations against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) saw no let up on Tuesday (December 17) with students, political parties and citizens from different walks of life joining the protest against the law that aims to provide citizenship on the basis of religion.

Sources said 10 people with criminal background were arrested on Tuesday for the violence on the campus of Jamia Millia Islamia university on Sunday (December 15).

Police said while the arrested people are not students, the latter have not been cleared of suspicion yet. Delhi police have filed two FIRs pertaining to property damage and riots in connection with the violence on the Jamia campus on Sunday.

The development comes two days after the university campus in New Delhi witnessed violent clashes between students and police after the latter entered the university to nab some miscreants who they believed had damaged public property during anti-CAA protests. Police had resorted to lathi-charge and had hurled tear gas shells at students to contain the protest on the campus.

Also read: Situation tense in Jamia over anti-CAA protests, students leave

The Supreme Court on Tuesday is slated to hear the petition of the university’s students in this regard.

According to university vice-chancellor almost 200 people including students were injured in Sunday’s violence. She said the university administration will file an FIR against Delhi police for barging into the campus without permission and allegedly destroying property.

On Monday, students from institutions including II-T Bombay, Aligarh Muslim University, Maulana Azad Urdu University, Hyderabad, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Patna University, Madras University, Jadavpur University, Nadwa College in Lucknow, Benaras University and Pondicherry University had organised protests in solidarity with their Jamia counterparts.

An all-party delegation is expected to raise the issue with President Ram Nath Kovind at 4.30 pm on Tuesday.

In view of protests, internet services in West Bengal’s Howrah and Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut district will remain suspended till 5 pm on Tuesday.

Curfew lifted in Guwahati

Meanwhile, curfew imposed in Guwahati on December 11 in the wake of protests against CAA, was lifted on Tuesday, officials said.

Shops and business establishments were open in the city, and buses, cars and two-wheelers were plying. The decision to lift the curfew in Guwahati was taken at a law and order review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday.

“It has been decided to lift the curfew completely in Guwahati from 6 am tomorrow,” an official statement had said.

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However, the statement did not mention anything about resumption of mobile internet services.

In Dibrugarh, the curfew has been relaxed for 14 hours from 6 am on Tuesday, they said. Assam witnessed violent protests with three rail stations, a post office, a bank, a bus terminus, shops, dozens of vehicles and many other public properties being set ablaze or damaged by the protesters. Five persons had lost their lives since Wednesday.

Protests in West Bengal

Protests were reported from some parts of West Bengal for the fifth day on Tuesday against CAA. Agitators raised slogans against the new Citizenship Act at Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district.

The police has stepped up vigil across the state and as many as 354 protesters were arrested for violence. Several trains to north Bengal were either cancelled or delayed, officials said.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to lead a rally from Jadavpur 8B bus stand to Bhawanipore in south Kolkata area against the citizenship law. Banerjee, who led a mega rally from Red Road to Jorasanko Thakur Bari, the ancestral house of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in north Kolkata on Monday, had urged the agitators to not indulge in vandalism and arson.

Dawn-to-dusk protest in Kerala

Incidents of stone throwing on state-run KSRTC buses have been reported from various parts of Kerala as the dawn-to-dusk hartal called against CAA and police action on students of Jamia university in Delhi, began on Tuesday.

Also read: Ruling, Oppn fronts hold joint protest in Kerala against CAA

A group of 30 Islamic and political outfits have called the hartal from which major political parties, including the ruling CPI (M) and the opposition Congress and IUML are keeping away. KSRTC, private buses, four wheelers and auto-rickshaws were seen plying in the state capital, while in north Kerala, especially Kannur and Kozhikode, roads wore a deserted look in the early hours of the stir. Stone throwing incidents on KSRTC buses have been reported from Peroorkada in the capital city, Palakkad, Wayanad, Kozhikode and Aluva in Kochi. Demonstrations were also taken out by the hartal supporters in many places. In Palakkad, around 120 people have been either arrested or taken into preventive custody till 9 am, SP Siva Vikram told PTI.

A state owned bus coming from Velankanni in Tamil Nadu was stoned at Walayar at around 3 am, he said. In Kannur, the activists took out a procession on the National Highway and were arrested and removed by police. Two women activists, who squatted on the road in Kannur shouted Inquilab Zindabad and “Down with CAA”, as police removed them.

Referring to police action on Jamia students, they said “those are our children. You should also support us”. Police chased away pro hartal activists in Palakkad as they forcibly tried to close down shops and prevented vehicles from plying. In Aluva in Kochi, several vehicles were blocked and stones hurled at buses. A KSRTC bus on its way to Munnar from Thiruvananthapuram was stoned at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam. School and University examinations scheduled for Tuesday have not been postponed. Shops and business establishments were open in various places.

State DGP Loknath Behara has made it clear that the hartal was illegal as no prior permission had been taken for its conduct which was necessary as per a high court direction. The high court has specifically given a direction that the notice for hartal should be given at least seven days before in order to avoid difficulties to the public. They have not done that. Action will be taken against the organisers if they forcibly shutdown shops and cause inconvenience to the public, he said.

While protests have been raging against CAA across the length and breadth of the country for the past five days, Kerala on Monday saw both the ruling dispensation and the opposition parties joined hands to stage a dharna in Thiruvananthapuram against the law.  In Assam, police on Monday detained almost 1,000 protesters in Assam including All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya and general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi. A protest rally was taken out by workers of AASU and 30 other indigenous organisations, who had gathered at Latasil group in Guwahati to protest.

Congress leaders including party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra staged a dharna at the India Gate on Monday in solidarity with students protesting against CAA.

Also read: Citizenship law is just a gimmick, BJP only wants to distract

On Monday, protesters in Uttar Pradesh’s Mau district torched 15 vehicles, forcing the police to fire in the air. The situation, however, is now under control and Section 144 has been imposed in the area, TOI quoted Uttar Pradesh DGP OP Singh as saying.

In New Delhi, women of all age groups, including the elderly and siblings of Jamia Millia Islamia students, took the lead in the protest on Monday against the alleged police excesses and the amended Citizenship Act, vowing to continue the fight for justice till their “last breath.”

(With inputs from agencies)