Citizenship Act protests: 16 people killed in Uttar Pradesh, 131 arrested in just one district

11.20 pm: 131 people have been arrested in Bijnor district in western Uttar Pradesh, the police told reporters in an evening briefing. Several FIRs have been filed against protestors. In the FIR related to violence in Nehtaur, where two people were killed on Friday, 25 people have been named as the accused along with 100 “unknown” others.

9.25 pm: Students are marching to BJP headquarters in Kolkata, reports PTI. They are demanding a roll-back of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed nationwide NRC.

9.19 pm: Students of Jadavpur University, Calcutta University, Presidency University and Aliah University protest against the amendments to citizenship in West Bengal, reports ANI.

9.11 pm: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accuses government of being “bent upon using repression and violence to suppress the voice of people” protesting against the amendments to citizenship law, reports PTI. “The NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act is against the fundamental spirit of the Constitution of India,” she says, adding “at no cost will an attack on Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution” be allowed.

9.05 pm: Congress leader Salman Sayeed tells Scroll.in that Muslim areas in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar are placed under curfew and rest of the city is mostly normal. “My four cars [are] destroyed,” he adds. “The police are entering houses, arresting boys and destroying everything in the house, looting all jewelry and cash.”

8.45 pm: Internet services will be suspended from 6 am to 8 pm in Jaipur on Sunday. Metro services will not be available between 8 am and 2 pm.

8.38 pm: Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure will be in place for two months in Imphal West in Manipur, according to reports.

8.28 pm: All Assam Students Union accuses Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal of misleading people, PTI reports. “We don’t understand their [BJP’s] peculiar formula,” AASU Chief Advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya says at a rally in Guwahati. “On the one hand they say the language, identity and land of the Assamese people are secure, on the other hand they will bring in Bangladeshis here through the CAA threatening the very existence of the indigenous people.”

8.20 pm: A Delhi court sends 11 people who were arrested in connection with violence in North East Delhi’s Seemapuri area to 14 days of judicial custody, PTI reports.

7.14 pm: The Congress will hold a protests at Raj Ghat on Sunday from 2 pm to 8 pm, ANI reports. Senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are expected to participate.

7.13 pm: The Delhi Waqf Board announces financial assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh each to the families of those who were killed during protests against the amendments to the Citizenship Act, PTI reports.

7.12 pm: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh asks the BJP leadership to clarify if the National Register of Citizens exercise will be carried out across India., PTI reports. “The enforcement of NRC means people will have to dig out birth, school and other certificates of their forefathers to prove citizenship,” the Rajya Sabha member says. “The Centre already has the power to grant citizenship, so there was no need for this amendment.”

7.06 pm: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad’s bail petition rejected. He has been remanded to 14 days of judicial custody, Live Law reports.

6.36 pm: One person died in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur town on Saturday during fresh clashes between protestors and police, reports Hindustan Times.

6.26 pm: The Uttar Pradesh Police have, however, denied firing at protestors.“The SSP has been quoted in local newspapers saying an investigation will be done (into the matter),” Samajwadi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP, Javed Ali Khan says.

6.20 pm: Two young men died in Sambhal – Mohammad Bilal, 27, a daily wage worker, and Shehroz, 22, a truck cleaner – who succumbed to bullet injuries, several eyewitnesses confirmed, Khan says. “There is no doubt they died of bullets,” he adds.

The father of Shehroz told reporters that his son died of a bullet injury, Rakesh Kumar of the Hindi newspaper Amar Ujala told Scroll.in.

6.16 pm: Samajwadi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP, Javed Ali Khan, who belongs to Sambhal district in Uttar Pradesh spoke to Scroll.in about the clashes between police and anti-Citizenship Act protestors on Friday. He says people had peacefully dispersed after Friday prayers when violence broke out suddenly around 3 pm at Chandausi Chowk in Sambhal. “Some say the protestors pelted bricks at the police, others say the police began the violence,” Khan adds.

6.12 pm: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot adds: “It is the trick of the BJP, Modi and Shah for polarisation. They want to keep polarising the country so that they can get its advantage in elections. They want to push the country in (an atmosphere of) hatred but we will not let this happen.”

6.11 pm: “CAA and NRC don’t deserve to be implemented in the country. This will affect people of all communities”, Ashok Gehlot says, according to PTI.

6.10 pm: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot says the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed nationwide citizens’ register “do not deserve” to be implemented in India. Gehlot calls the situation in India alarming and says “demonstration is democratic right but violence cannot be tolerated”, PTI reports.

6.06 pm: Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure imposed in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar, ANI reports.

6 pm: Fifteen people who were arrested in connection with the violence in Delhi’s Daryaganj on Friday were sent to two days’ judicial custody, ANI reports. Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad, who was also arrested in connection with this case, was not produced in court, according to NDTV.

5.33 pm: The police fire tear gas at protestors in Yateem Khana Police Station area of Kanpur, ANI reports. The police action allegedly came after protestors pelted stone at officers.

5.25 pm: The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday criticised Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s comments that “people are dying” because of the Citizenship Amendment Act and that the Indian government is “taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship”.

Read more here:

‘Factually incorrect’: India rejects Malaysian prime minister’s remarks on Citizenship Act

5.20 pm: The Bharatiya Janata Party says it will contact more than 3 crore families over the next 10 days as part of a special campaign to increase awareness about the new citizenship legislation.

5.15 pm: The toll in violence in Uttar Pradesh rises to 15, ANI reports. Since December 10, 705 people were arrested and 4,500 people were released after preventive arrests, IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar says. He adds that 263 police personnel were injured.

5.10 pm: Internet services will be shut in Lucknow till December 23, NDTV reports.

5 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets his council of ministers to discuss the law and order situation in the country following protests against the new citizenship law, Reuters reports.

4.51 pm: In the clashes between police and anti-Citizenship Act protestors in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur, five protestors and dozen policemen are injured, reports PTI.

4.48 pm: Communist Party of India (Marxist) urges protestors to peacefully continue their agitation against the citizenship law, reports PTI.

4.43 pm: People arrested in connection with Friday’s violence at Delhi Gate have been brought to Tis Hazari Court, reports ANI.

4.40 pm: Women protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act at the Latasil grounds in Guwahati, reports ANI.

Also read: In 10 days, 18 dead in protests against India’s Citizenship Act. Here is where Internet remains shut

4.36 pm: All Assam Students Union Chief Advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya says people’s voices against the citizenship law is loud and clear, reports ANI. “I must be scrapped because it is protector of illegal Bangladeshis, violates historic Assam accord, anti North East, communal and unconstitutional,” he adds.

4.31 pm: As many as 1,100 academicians and research scholars from various universities across India and abroad release a statement supporting the amended citizenship law, reports PTI. They appeal to every section of the society “to exercise restraint and refuse to fall into the trap of propaganda, communalism and anarchism”.

4.25 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa says an inquiry will be conducted into the violence in the coastal city of Mangaluru where two people were killed in police firing on December 19, reports PTI.

4.22 pm: The Delhi Police have detained four students during a protest against Citizenship Amendment Act outside Uttar Pradesh Bhawan in Chanakyapuri, reports PTI.

4.15 pm: In Chennai, the police have detained around 200 students near the city’s central railway station, reports NDTV. The students were attempting to block train service to protest against the citizenship law. Protestors also broke barricades during the demonstrations.

4.12 pm: In the town of Kalaburagi in Karnataka, security forces hold march from Nagareshwar school to Jagat Circle. Additional Director General of Police Alok Kumar says this is being done “to instill confidence in minds of general public and fear in minds of bad elements, we wanted to have show of force to send right signal to people”.

4.10 pm: Police use tear gas shells against protestors after they threw stones at them in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district during demonstrations against the amended citizenship law, reports ANI.

4 pm: Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police OP Singh claims they did not “fire a single bullet” at protestors, according to NDTV. He says thousands of people took to the streets after Friday prayers in 20 of the 75 districts of the state.

“But the protests soon turned violent,” Singh claims. “Stones were thrown, arsonry was reported. The protesters fired illegal weapons. I don’t think police had any other option. But I should make it clear that nowhere did the police resort to firing, and not a single bullet was fired at the protestors. They died in firing among themselves. This will become clear after the postmortem.”

3.50 pm: Curfew will be imposed in Tinsukia in Assam from 8 pm Saturday to 5 am Sunday, ANI reports.

3 pm: Mobile and broadband internet services suspended in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur after clashes break out between the police and anti-Citizenship Act protestors, NDTV reports.

2.56 pm: Janata Dal (United) leader and poll strategist Prashant Kishor takes a potshot at the Congress and says its leaders are largely absent in the fight against the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens.

“The least party could do it to make ALL Congress CMs join other CMs who have said that they will not allow NRC in their states,” Kishor says in a tweet. “Or else these statements means nothing.”

He is referring to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s statement on Friday alleging that the BJP was using “brute force to suppress dissent”.

2.45 pm: Historian and writer Ramachandra Guha says the amended citizenship legislation is “immoral” and “against the spirit” of the Constitution. “The immediate withdrawal of the NRC is a necessary first step to restore trust and heal the nation,” he says in a tweet, adding that “a wise and just government would withdraw it”.

Guha was among more than 100 protestors who were detained in Bengaluru on Thursday as people took to the streets in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens.

2.40 pm: The All Assam Students’ Union, which spearheaded the protests in the state, is expected to hold a sit-in demonstration in Guwahati later on Saturday, according to PTI.

2.30 pm: Protestors take out rallies in different parts of Assam against the amended citizenship legislation. The curfew in Dibrugarh has been relaxed for 16 hours from 6 am on Saturday, PTI reports.

2.15 pm: Curfew will be relaxed in Mangaluru from 3 pm to 6 pm today, announces Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. The curfew will be relaxed during day time on Sunday and will be back in place on Monday, according to ANI.

2.01 pm: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, who was earlier taken into custody, has been arrested, say Delhi Police, according to PTI.

1.55 pm: A group of academics issues a statement condemning the police action in Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University. They say the action was an “attempt to suppress dissent” and “an attack on the autonomy of the universities”. “We emphasise that academic institutions are an arena of discussion, debate and dissent, and the peremptory and ultimate objective of universities is to speak truth to power,” they say. “By using force against the students, the government has struck at the heart of the culture of protests.”

The group warns that through measures like CAA and NRC, “democracy is being forced to give way to majoritarianism”.

1.47 pm: Police use water cannons on Congress workers in Kozhikode, ANI reports.

1.37 pm: At least 35 people have been arrested in connection with violence during Friday’s protests in Madhya Pradesh, which left 20 police personnel injured, PTI reports. Protestors had allegedly pelted stones at police in some places and police had baton-charged them. Curfew was imposed in parts of Jabalpur.

1.20 pm: A group of lawyers file an application before the chief metropolitan magistrate at Delhi’s Tis Hazari court, seeking permission for lawyers to meet those who were detained on Friday evening and show them copies of FIRs, ANI reports. The chief metropolitan magistrate asks the lawyers to go to the concerned magistrate court or the Delhi High Court.

1.17 pm: A protest is taking place outside Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi.

1.16 pm: Congress leader Siddaramaiah says police has prohibited him from entering Mangaluru.

1.15 pm: Five men have been detained in connection with violence in Seemapuri locality of Delhi, police say, according to The Indian Express.

12.40 pm: A map showing areas with prohibitory orders in place:

12.39 pm: A map showing areas with internet shutdowns:

12.37 pm: Twenty people have been detained and 130 booked in Hingoli district of Maharashtra for allegedly damaging public property and rioting during protests, PTI reports.

12.35 pm: NCP chief Sharad Pawar claims that CAA and NRC are attempts to divert attention from serious issues the country is facing, PTI reports. He says that not just the minorities, but those who think about the country’s unity and progress are opposing them.

12.29 pm: One of those who were killed in Uttar Pradesh was 27-year-old daily wage labourer Mohammad Bilal and another was a driver, Shehroz, who was killed on his 22nd birthday, a journalist reports.

12.14 pm: Mobile internet services resume in Meghalaya after eight days, PTI reports.

11.49 am: As many as 15 protestors have now been arrested in connection with the violence in Daryaganj in Delhi on Friday, the police say. The protesters had allegedly set ablaze a private car parked at Subhash Marg area on Friday evening.

11.45 am: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is visiting Mangaluru with Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, PTI reports. “I will hold meetings with officials there to know the reasons for the violence,” he says. At least two people were killed in clashes between police and protestors in Mangaluru on Friday.

11.40 am: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has said that the state will not implement the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. “I have said several times that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and NRC cannot be implemented across the country because they are not practical,” he has tweeted. “Despite the resistance and suggestion by opposition parties, CAB became an act but why students and youths of all communities have come on roads?”

11.30 am: Left organisations hold a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act outside Chennai Central railway station, ANI reports.

11.24 am: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati asks the Centre to give up its “stubborn stand” on the new citizenship law and NRC and withdraw its decisions, in a tweet. “Now that voices opposed to the CAA and NRC have started coming from within the NDA, the central government should give up its stubborn stand and withdraw its decisions,” she says.

11.15 am: The Congress in Kerala is organising protests in all district headquarters on Saturday against the Citizenship Amendment Act, PTI reports. Senior Congress leaders including Ramesh Chennithala, K C Venugopal, Mullappally Ramachandran and Shashi Tharoor are participating in the campaign. Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Chennithala will inaugurate the protest in Malappuram district.

11.09 am: The bandh has disrupted rail and road traffic across Bihar, The Times of India reports. In Patna, hundreds of party supporters, including children, have stormed railway stations and bus stands carrying sticks and party flags. However, they have been dispersed by the police. In Nawada, bandh supporters stage a demonstration on National Highway 31, burning tyres on the road.

11.03 am: The Rashtriya Janata Dal has called a bandh in Bihar on Saturday, ANI reports. The party workers are holding a protest in Patna.

10.59 am: The students’ wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Students Federation of India, will conduct a march to the BJP office in Kolkata against the new citizenship law, News18 reports. On the other hand, the West Bengal BJP will conduct marches in the city in favour of the law.

10.55 am: The Jamia Millia Islamia Coordination Committee has decided to hold a public programme on Saturday on “NRC and CAA: People’s Movement and State Repression”, in front of Gate No 7, at 12.30 pm, News18 reports.

10.49 am: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has said that if the National Register of Citizens is implemented, over half the population in his state will not be able to prove their citizenship as they neither have land nor land records, PTI reports. He has added that half the people in Chhattisgarh do not possess any document to prove their citizenship as their ancestors were illiterate.

10.42 am: West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of “speaking the language of Pakistan”, ANI reports. “Like Pakistan, which demands UN intervention in everything, Banerjee has also demanded UN mediation on the matter of Citizenship Amendment Act,” he says. Ghosh further claims that Banerjee has no right to stay in power and calls for her government to be dismissed immediately.

10.33 am: Vikassheel Insaan Party workers break barricades during a protest in Patna against the Citizenship Amendment Act, ANI reports.

10.23 am: Ten arrested for violence in Daryaganj locality of Delhi, charged with rioting and using force to deter policemen from doing duty, PTI reports.

10.13 am: The toll in violence in Uttar Pradesh rises to 11, PTI reports.

9.58 am: A journalist tweets that lawyers were not allowed to meet detained men at the Seemapuri police station the entire night despite a magistrate order.

9.49 am: The toll in Uttar Pradesh is now nine, NDTV reports, citing police.

9.06 am: Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi claims there is no plan of conducting a nationwide NRC. “NRC is limited to Assam,” he says. “There is no plan of NRC in any other part of the country. You are talking about an unborn baby…spreading rumours about it.”

8.55 am: Senior leaders in the BJP, including National General Secretary Ram Madhav, seem to have backtracked a bit on the National Register of Citizens following mass protests, The Indian Express reports. “It’s premature to talk about NRC as the government has not yet made any details available,” Madhav says. “Right now, the focus is on the Citizenship Amendment Act. NRC is a proposed activity Home Minister [Amit Shah] has announced to be taken up in 2021.”

8.41 am: The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued some clarifications on the Citizenship Amendment Act, in tweets. The ministry’s spokesperson says that citizenship of India may be proved by providing any document relating to date of birth or place of birth or both, and adds that this includes a large range of documents.

8.29 am: The toll in Uttar Pradesh has risen to seven, including at least three killed in Meerut.

8.20 am: Chandrashekhar Azad has been detained by the police in the early hours of Saturday. The police say he has surrendered from Gate No 1 of the Jama Masjid.

8 am: Here are the top updates from Friday:

• Protests erupted in various parts of the country on Friday. After the afternoon prayers at Delhi’s Jama Masjid, a huge crowd gathered, with Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad holding up a photo of BR Ambedkar. The Dalit leader, who did not have permission for the protest, was soon detained by the police, but escaped from custody and returned to the protest venue.
• On Friday evening, as protestors moved from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar, police clashed with protestors in Daryaganj locality after a vehicle was set on fire outside a police station. Batons and water cannons were used, leaving many injured. Around 40 persons, including minors, were detained.
• Violent protests in Uttar Pradesh spread to eight more districts, and five more people died during the day. Two of the people who died were in Bijnore, while the others were in Firozabad, Sambal and Meerut. Internet services were suspended in several parts of Uttar Pradesh.
• The Kerala government stayed all work connected to updating the National Population Register, days after a similar decision by West Bengal. In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, an ally of the ruling BJP, said the National Register of Citizens would not be implemented in the state.