With Delhi’s assembly elections just days away, the central government has preemptively moved Rapid Action Force at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, to avoid any untoward incident leading to riots in the national capital. The area is seeing a sit-in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act for the last two months, blocking a major road in Delhi a causing huge inconvenience to people in the locality and commuters. Most of the participants in the protest are Muslim women.
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A riot control vehicle has been positioned at the protest site of Shaheen Bagh where scores of anti-CAA protesters have camped since December 11, 2019, following the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act that intends to grant citizenship to the persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
While another RAF vehicle was parked outside Jamia Millia Islamia University, another epicentre of the anti-CAA protests.
Yesterday the Southeast DCP was transferred by the Election Commission, citing ‘ongoing situation’ in the area.
The Shaheen Bagh protests have seen anti-India and pro-Jinnah slogans raised by the protesters. The blocking of one of the busiest thoroughfares of Delhi has also infuriated and inconvenienced a large section of residents who are facing trouble because of the continuous encampment by the demonstrators.
The decision to deploy Rapid Action Force to avert any riots came on the heels of an incident wherein a man had opened fire at the Shaheen Bagh protesters. The assailant, identified as one Kapil, had reportedly fired 3 shots but no injuries were reported from the site.
Earlier in December 2019, after the passage of the Citizenship Law, several parts of Delhi such as Jamia Nagar, Seelampur had witnessed extensive riots as demonstrators dubbed as ‘peaceful anti-CAA protesters’ went on a rampage in the National Capital, blatantly indulging in riots, stone-pelting, vandalism and arson.