AMU closed till Jan 5 after violence on campus, internet services suspended

Students alleged that they were lathi-charged by the police as they moved out to conduct a chakka jam.

After weeklong peaceful protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the situation turned violent on Sunday night when students of the Aligarh Muslim University, reportedly agitated by police action in Jamia Millia University of Delhi, decided to move out of the university campus but were stopped by the police leading to violence.

The police fired tear gas shells at protesters outside the Aligarh Muslim University campus after protesters pelted stones at them, news agency ANI reported. (HT PHOTO.)

The police fired tear gas shells at students outside the Aligarh Muslim University campus after protesters pelted stones at them. Water cannons were also used by the police to quell the protests.

The Aligarh Muslim University is shut for the winter break till January 5 after vacations were extended by a week, spokesperson of AMU, Shafey Kidwai said. The university will now reopen on January 6. All examinations have been postponed at the varsity.

A few students were detained after police personnel entered the Aligarh Muslim University campus. Students alleged that they were lathi-charged by the police as they moved out to conduct a protest over the violence at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia university.

District magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh suspended internet services in Aligarh from 10 pm on Sunday till 10 pm on Monday night in view of the violence at AMU to control spreading of rumours.

Students of AMU were opposing CAA since last week and peaceful protests were going on besides Open Talk on AMU campus. On Sunday evening too, a peaceful protest was held and a memorandum was handed over at the Bab-e-Syed gate of AMU but later in the evening rumours spread that students were targeted by Delhi Police at the Jamia Millia University in Delhi.

“Students were agitated by information coming from Jamia Millia Islamia University and thus they gathered and moved out of the AMU gate but police lathi-charged us injuring many students including former president M Salman Imtiaz,” complained former vice president of AMU Students Union Hamza Sufiyan.

Police officials, however, denied this and said that the police personnel got into action to check an unruly mob of students moving out of the AMU campus. Water cannons were used and tear gas shells were fired to push students inside the university. But, students continued with stone pelting leaving a few policemen including DIG Aligarh Dr Preetinder Singh injured.

Additional police force has been deployed all around the AMU campus.