Anti-citizenship law protest turns violent in Delhi, buses torched; cop, firemen injured

Protestors agitating against the amended Citizenship Act clashed with police on Sunday and set afire three public buses and a fire tender in New Friends' Colony in southeast Delhi, leaving a cop and two fire personnel injured, police said. The trouble started during a protest by students of Jamia Millia Islamia. But a students' body later said they had nothing to do with the violence and arson, alleging that "certain elements" joined and "disrupted" the demonstration.

The protesters torched buses with at least three of them being damaged completely and a fire tender also damaged, police said. An eyewitness claimed that protestors took out petrol from a motorcycle and used it to torch the buses. Protesters claimed that the police baton-charged them and used teargas shells when they were holding a peaceful protest.

A Delhi Fire Services official said four fire tenders were rushed to the spot. One of them was completely damaged and two personnel were injured, he said. Plumes of smoke billowed from the torched buses as firemen tried to douse the blaze.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said any kind of violence is unacceptable and protests should remain peaceful. The protest was being held against the contentious law which seeks to provide citizenship to non-Muslims religious minorities from three neighboring countries who arrived in India to escape religious persecution.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation closed entry and exit gates of the nearby Sukhdev Vihar metro station due to the violent protest. According to Saimon Farooqui, the national secretary of Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India, the protesters were peacefully sitting on Mathura Road when policemen tried to "trouble" a couple of protesters, who resisted.

Thereafter, the police lathi-charged the protesters and used teargas, he alleged. The clash disrupted traffic in the area with several vehicles stranded on roads for hours.

The Delhi Traffic Police said in a tweet that the vehicular movement was closed from Okhla Underpass to Sarita Vihar due to the agitation. Vehicles coming from Badarpur and Ashram Chowk were diverted to alternative routes due to the blockade. Meanwhile, Jamia Teachers' Association appealed to the students to keep away from such "direction-less" protest led by "local political leaders".

Jamia students have been protesting against the legislation. However, on Saturday evening, they had called off their university lockdown and declared they would hold peaceful protest. After the violence this afternoon, a Jamia students' body issued a statement, saying, "We have time and again maintained that our protests are peaceful and nonviolent. We stand by this approach and condemn any party involved in the violence.

"We have maintained calm even when students have been lathi-charged and some women protestors badly beaten up. Media personnel are a witness to these events. Violence by certain elements is an attempt to vilify and discredit genuine protests," the statement said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)