Delhi witnessed yet another violent protest against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi’s Seelampur area on Tuesday. The clashes erupted two days after violence broke out during a protest in the New Friends area in South Delhi near Jamia Millia Islamia.
Angry protesters demanding scrapping of the amended citizenship law torched several motor bikes, pelted stones at police and damaged public buses. Police resorted to baton charges and fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters. Plumes of smoke billowed from at least two localities. Police said two bikes of traffic cops were burnt by the demonstrators, adding a police booth in the area was damaged.
Police said the protesters were marching from Seelampur towards Jafrabad. Clashes erupted between police and protesters at Seelampur Chowk when the security personnel tried to stop them from moving ahead. According to a senior police officer, the protest began at around 12 pm. The protesters raised slogans against the new law as well as the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
A large number of policemen were deployed following the violence.
News Nation has learnt that around 1,000 people had gathered outside the DCP office in the area. Suddenly the peaceful protest turned violent with the police resorting lathicharge and tear gas. News Nation has accessed the video clip that showed people peacefully marching. They were shouting slogans such as ‘Hindu-Muslim Zindabad’ and ‘Jamia tum sangharsh karo, hum tumhare saath hain.’ However, it is still not clear at what point the mega rally turned into a violent protest. It was a Sunday rerun with the protesters setting the busses on fire. Stone-pelting and vandalization of properties in the area has been reported.
The Delhi Traffic Police has also diverted the vehicular movement in the area. Taking to Twitter, the Delhi Traffic Police said that, “Traffic movement has been closed on 66 feet road from Seelampur to Jafrabad (both carriageways) due to demonstration.” The protests have also affected the metro services in the area. “Security Update Entry & exit gates of Welcome, Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur are closed. Trains will not be halting at these stations,” the DMRC said on Twitter. There are reports coming in that several policemen including senior officials were injured in the protests. ACP Gokulpuri, Additional DCP RP Meena were among those who were injured in the clashes.
According to a senior police officer, the protest began around 12 pm and the people from the area gathered at Seelampur T-point. The protesters raised slogans against the act, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the government. Delhi Police has said that the situation is under control now.
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