Anti-CAA protesters block Delhi road, Jaffrabad metro shut

An anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest by around 1,500 people, mostly women, near the Jaffrabad metro station in northeast Delhi continued on Sunday (February 23), prompting the Delhi Metro authorities to close the entry and exit gates of the station.

The women were also supporting Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad’s decision to hold a nationwide protest after the Supreme Court ruled that “quotas and reservations for promotions for government jobs was not a fundamental right.”

The protest began on Saturday (February 22) night, with protesters blocking a road which connects Seelampur with Maujpur and Yamuna Vihar. The women, carrying the tricolour and raising slogans of aazadi, said they would not move from the site till the Centre revokes the CAA.

Heavy security deployment, including women police personnel, has been made in the area. In view of the protest, entry and exit gates of the Jaffrabad metro station were closed. “Entry & exit of Jaffrabad have been closed. Trains will not be halting at this station,” the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation tweeted.

Security Update

Entry & exit of Jaffrabad have been closed. Trains will not be halting at this station.

— Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (@OfficialDMRC) February 23, 2020

Senior police officer Ved Prakash Surya told NDTV that policemen were holding discussions with the protesters to clear the road. “We are holding talks with the protesters so that they leave… they can’t block a major road like this. We have called paramilitary security personnel also,” he said.

A woman, who identified herself as Bushra, had said that till the time the CAA was not revoked, the protesters would not leave the site.

Social activist Faheem Baig had said that there was resentment among the people against the way the government was handling the issue. A protest is already going on near the main Seelampur road and Kardampuri against the amended citizenship act.

The protest at Jaffrabad took place at a time efforts are being made to clear a road blocked by anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh. The protesters have been staging a sit-in at Shaheen Bagh for over two months, blocking the road connecting southeast Delhi and Noida.

The Supreme Court has appointed interlocutors in an attempt to reach out to the anti-CAA protesters.