3 minors among 50 detained, 46 injured during CAA protests in Delhi

Over 40 detained as peaceful protest takes violent turn.

Police resorted to a lathi-charge and used water cannons to disperse a crowd that turned violent in Delhi’s Daryaganj on Friday, just minutes after a two-and-a-half-hour long peaceful agitation against the amended citizenship law got over.

A car seen burning after being set on fire by protestors during a protest against Citizenship Amendment Act, at Daryaganj, in New Delhi, India, on Friday, December 20, 2019. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT PHOTO)

The police action, which followed stone-pelting and arson, forced several people to flee, including many of those who had joined protests that started in the afternoon and went on till evening -- evidenced by hundreds of abandoned shoes scattered on the road between Delhi Gate and Brij Mohan Chowk.

At least 46 people were injured in stone-pelting and police action.

According to eye-witnesses, thousands of people gathered on Friday afternoon on Netaji Subhash Marg, where police had put up barricades near Delhi Gate. Some of them were in the region for Friday payers, considered by Muslims to be the holiest of the week, at the Jama Masjid; some others wee locals living in the vicinity; and some others who joined the protests just as they had on Thursday in various locations across central Delhi.

At about 5pm, as the protesters started to disperse, thousands more people turned up -- according to the police from parts of north-east Delhi. This group, that soon swelled to about 15,000 as per police estimates, started to break the cordon of barricades.

Police spokesperson MS Randhawa said the security personnel first launched water cannons to disperse the crowd, and then charged with lathis as the agitators torched a private vehicle and started pelted stones.

Some people in the area, however, alleged the police response was disproportionate and indiscriminate. “I could see people running back, towards Jama Masjid. There was a lot of commotion. They shouted that the police had started lathi-charge. An elderly man was hit on the head. He was bleeding. The locals were taking him to the hospital. He may have been trapped in the crowd, but was beaten badly, ” said a woman who lives in the area, asking not to be named.

Both the police and residents said that those involved in the violence were “outsiders”.

“Ours was a peaceful protest that we had organised against the government to demand scrapping of the amended citizenship law. All of us had decided not to involve in any violence or attack the police. But some outsiders arrived there and started the violence,” said Abdul Rub, a Jama Masjid area resident.

The detained protesters were bundled into buses and taken to the Daryaganj and Jama Masjid police stations. A case of rioting and arson was registered at the Daryaganj police station, where over 40 people, including at least three minors, were detained.

Protests in the heart of the Walled City started outside Jama Masjid at around 1pm. Police spokesperson Randhawa said a large crowd gathered at the mosque and wanted to move towards Jantar Mantar though permission for the march was denied. The protesters marched towards Daryaganj, first assembling at Brij Mohan Chowk and then moving towards Delhi Gate, where police blocked their march by placing barricades.They were about 4,000 at the time, according to police estimates.

After the evening prayers at 4.30pm, announcements from the mosque asked the protesters to leave peacefully, and the gathering started dispersing.

But at around 5pm, around 15,000 protesters -- mostly coming from areas such as Seelampur, Shastri Park, Jafarabad, Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Nagar, according to Randhawa -- again assembled at Delhi Gate.

“Suddenly, some anti-social elements in the gathering started breaking the barricades and pelting stones in a bid to march towards Jantar Mantar against the police advice. Police used water cannon and absolutely minimum force to push them back,” Randhawa said.

The city has been on edge since last Sunday. Eighteen Metro stations were blocked on Friday -- after 20 the previous day, when prohibitory orders under Section 144 were imposed in several parts and mobile services were shut down in Delhi for the first time.