Authorities in Uttar Pradesh suspended internet services in Aligarh till Sunday midnight after the police clashed with anti-citizenship law protestors in Aligarh, reported PTI. District Magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh said the police used tear gas shells to disperse the mob.
Violence broke out reportedly when the police tried to evict the protestors who have been staging a dharna since Saturday. “We told them that women protestors were already holding a protest at Eidgah and they would not be permitted to hold another such protest near Kotwali,” said Singh. Some reports said the clashes took place after the police denied permission to the protestors to erect tents as protection from inclement weather.
A Rapid Action Force of Uttar Pradesh Police has been deployed at Uparkot area to bring the situation under control, reported NDTV. A police vehicle has been vandalised in the clashes and some policemen suffered injuries. “An electricity department transformer was set afire but police managed to douse the flames before they could spread,” said the district magistrate. A motorcycle belonging to one of the policemen was also set ablaze allegedly by the protestors.
“(The) violence started around 5 pm when a local police officer’s vehicle was pelted with stones,” said Singh, according to NDTV. “Soon after, the mob started throwing stones at us ... to disperse them we had to use tear gas shells. The situation is under control.” The district magistrate added that the police were also investigating the role of Aligarh Muslim University students in “instigating the crowd”.
The clashes in the old city area broke out after a Bhim Army-led march headed towards the district collectorate was stopped midway by the police and RAF personnel. Shops in some areas near Kotwali were shut.
Meanwhile, a 22-year-old man was shot at and injured amid the clashes, reported PTI. Tariq was admitted at Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital at Aligarh Muslim University. He has suffered a bullet injury in the stomach, said unidentified doctors. Tariq’s father and brother told the police that he suffered bullet injury by a “miscreant” who opened fire amid the violence.
News from Aligarh started to pour in when clashes were reported from North Delhi’s Maujpur area near Jaffarabad. A group of around 500 people, mostly women, began a protest outside the Jaffrabad metro station against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens on Saturday night. The protest continued on Sunday, prompting the Delhi Metro authorities to close the entry and exit gates of two stations –Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur.
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