NEW DELHI: At least five people were killed and about 90 were injured in clashes in the Indian capital New Delhi during protests over a new citizenship law, a senior hospital official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Thousands of people demonstrating for and against a new citizenship law rioted for several hours before US President Donald Trump’s maiden visit to the city.
Tension in parts of the city remained high on Tuesday with schools remaining shut in some areas, amid news reports of fresh clashes. At least five metro stations in the city were closed.
“Some of the people brought in had gunshot wounds,” Dr Rajesh Kalra, additional medical superintendent at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, said of Monday’s clashes.
Police used tear gas and smoke grenades but struggled to disperse the crowds, as both sides hurled stones and turned a wide boulevard into a rock-strewn battle zone, about 11 miles from where Trump will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talks on Tuesday (today).
One police constable was killed, a police official told Reuters, declining to be named since he wasn’t authorised to speak to media.
“Please renounce violence. Nobody benefits from this. All problems will be solved by peace,” Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted that schools in the capital’s northeast would be shut on Tuesday and exams postponed.
Reuters reporters saw multiple vehicles set on fire, metal barricades are torn down and thick smoke billowing as supporters of the new law clashed with opponents. A small contingent of police was vastly outnumbered.
India’s capital has been a hotbed of protests against the law, which eases the path of non-Muslims from three neighboring Muslim-dominated countries to gain Indian citizenship.
This has led to accusations that Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are undermining India’s secular traditions.
The BJP denies any bias against India’s more than 180 million-strong Muslim minority, but objectors have been holding protests and camping out in parts of New Delhi for two months.
Monday’s clashes were among the worst seen in New Delhi since the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) began in early December of last year.
The latest round of violence came as Trump began his first visit to India as US president, addressing a rally in Modi’s home state of Gujarat.
Trump landed in New Delhi late on Monday.
‘Go ahead and throw stones’
The clashes stretched over a nearly kilometer-long road and lasted from early afternoon until well into the evening, leaving at least half a dozen people injured.
Police on Monday imposed an emergency law prohibiting any gatherings in the violence-hit areas. The protesters appeared to be divided along religious lines, and some repeatedly hailed Hindu god Ram while pelting stones at the predominantly Muslim group opposed to the new law.
A Reuters witness saw at least one Muslim man and a burqa-clad woman were beaten by dozens of pro-law protesters with sticks and iron rods.
Earlier on Monday, local politician Yogendra Yadav described the violence as “communal” and urged police to intervene.
But for several hours, Reuters witnesses saw the outnumbered policemen mostly stand beside those backing the citizenship law, a majority Hindu group, and do little to quell the violence.
The police also stood by as a mob vandalised a store with a Muslim name, pulling out vehicles and setting them alight.
“Go ahead and throw stones,” one policeman shouted to protesters backing the law, during one of the running battles.
On side streets, young boys drained fuel from motorcycles to make petrol bombs, and protesters pulled up paving stones and flung construction material at opponents.
“We are in support of the CAA. If they want to protest, they should go somewhere else,” said a protester who gave his name as Amit.
India’s junior home minister G Kishan Reddy said the violence was a “conspiracy to shame India globally” during Trump’s visit.
“We have deployed additional forces, and we will do everything to bring law and order under control,” he told Reuters partner ANI.
Ahead of Trump’s arrival in India, a senior US administration official had said Trump would raise the issue of religious freedom in India during his meetings with Modi.
Addressing a gathering of more than 100,000 people in Gujarat, however, Trump made no mention of the protests enveloping India over its Citizenship Amendment Act.
At the rally in Ahmedabad, Trump praised India’s history of religious tolerance, and “many faiths worshiping side-by-side”.
“India is a country that proudly embraces freedom, liberty, individual rights, the rule of law, and the dignity of every human being,” he said.
