Violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act which continued across the country Sunday have now reached the national capital, Delhi. Jamia Millia Islamia University, which had already seen violent protests earlier, found itself in thick of violence once again. At Jamia Nagar in Delhi where the university is located, Jihadist slogans were raised.
The so-called ‘protesters’ raised slogans of ‘Hinduon se Azadi’ and ‘Chheen ke lengey Azadi’ and ‘Ladh ke lengey Azadi’. The slogans translate to ‘Freedom from Hindus’, ‘We will fight for freedom’. Given the violence that was witnessed, the ‘fight’ cannot be interpreted as a non-violent ‘fight’ alone.
Three buses have reportedly been torched and firefighters were also attacked by the ‘protesters’. The visuals coming in from the ‘protests’ are extremely distressing. It’s not clear whether the Jamia students were directly involved in the violence or the violence was perpetrated by some other groups who were part of it. The ‘protests’ also pelted stones at the Police and the Police have responded with lathi-charge.
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The violence occurred at Delhi’s New Friends colony, not far from the Jamia Milia University. Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the buses that were torched.
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Concerned individuals are extremely distressed at the turn of events. The videos of the buses being burnt are highly disturbing.
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Two buses were also burnt near Mata Mandir in Delhi.
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Meanwhile, the students of Jamia Millia have disassociated themselves from the protests. In a statement, they said, “We have time and again maintained that our protests are peaceful and non-violent. We stand by this approach and condemn any party involved in the violence.” They called the violence an attempt to “vilify and discredit genuine protests”.
Meanwhile, Amanatullah Khan, leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, was reportedly spotted leading the protests that turned violent. Minutes after it was reported that Khan was present at the protest site which turned violent, AAP supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted an appeal for peace.