CAA protest at Jamia spiralled out of control in 30 minutes of mayhem
IN 24 HRS At 11am, a protest call was made; by 7.30pm, violence erupted in Jamia campus; late at night, stir at police HQ
NEW DELHI: Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) snowballed Sunday afternoon as buses were set on fire, the police lathi-charged protesters and allegedly lobbed teargas at the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) library, and detained students. Later, many demonstrated in front of the former police headquarters at ITO intersection till early Monday.
Hindustan Times correspondents were at the spot from the beginning of the first protest at Jamia Nagar. Here’s what transpired in the past 24 hours.
THE BEGINNING
Locals around JMI had called for a peaceful march at 11am on Sunday against the new Act, which grants citizenship to persons of Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Sikh and Jain faiths who, facing religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, entered the country on or before December 31, 2014.
Around 2,000 students joined them from gate no. 7 up to Batla House and back, said Nihal Ahmed, an Mphil researcher at the university and one of the student organisers. Then, the organisers called off the march, and asked JMI students to return to the campus.
Between 11am and 2pm, the crowd of protesters swelled as students and local citizens joined. Around this time, a rally helmed by Okhla legislator Amanatullah Khan of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was also under way. The MLA told HT that over several thousand people were protesting peacefully at Shaheen Bagh, a locality near the university.
Around 3pm, protesters marched towards New Delhi, taking Mathura Road, an arterial stretch that connects central Delhi with south Delhi. Many J MI s t udents had by now returned to the campus.
At 3.15pm, protesters began walking towards Surya Hotel, where Delhi police managed to restrict them for nearly an hour. Some climbed police barricades and walked to Mata Mandir Marg.
THE FLARE-UP
The police alleged that around 4pm, some protesters set two DTC buses and a motorcycle on fire on Mata Mandir Marg — a claim contested by several eyewitnesses. “Before any bus was set on fire, the police fired tear gas. There was chaos afterwards,” said Rezna M, a student. Delhi Police denied the allegations.
The police said they received orders to charge at the protesters with batons and fire tear gas shells.
Between 4.45-6pm, protesters spilled on to Mathura Road, where another bus and a car were torched. JMI students issued a press statement almost immediately after news of arson began circulating, saying they condemned the violence. Around 6pm, reports of stone pelting was reported at New Friends Colony and Mathura Road.
COPS ON CAMPUS
Around the same time, police entered the university campus through gate no. 4. Tear gas shells were allegedly fired into the new library building, causing students in the reading rooms on the ground floor to break the glass on the walls for air.
Delhi police say they had to move into the campus because many unruly protesters had entered there. The police deny they entered the library but admitted a tear gas shell may have entered it.
Students alleged the police hit them with batons; even guards — many ex-servicemen—suffered head wounds and body injuries, which HT has seen.
At about 7.15pm, some students were paraded out with their hands in the air, and later were let off. At least 50 students who were in the old library building — located nearby— were detained and taken to the New Friends Colony and Kalkaji Police stations.
Many student groups of different political affiliations in Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University called for a protest outside the former police headquarters at ITO at 9pm.
PROTESTS SHIFT TO ITO Between 9pm and midnight, an estimated 3,000 protesters gathered outside the headquarters protesting the alleged police violence and the CAA. The traffic police blocked Vikas Marg for vehicles, and several policemen and policewomen in riot gear stood on standby. Protesters refused to leave until the JMI students, detained at the NFC and Kalkaji police stations, were let off. They dispersed at 5am, only after they received confirmed news that they had been released.
Speaking to reporters at the NFC police station earlier on Sunday night, MLA Khan said, “I have spoken to the police commissioner, and university officials, and they assured me the students will not be mistreated. None of the students detained were involved in the protests, the students told me,” Khan said.
Exams scheduled for Monday at JMI were cancelled and the winter break, which was to have started next week, was declared early. Many students in Jamia hostels left with their luggage.
ENTER MONDAY
On Monday morning, students of Delhi University’s Faculty of Political Science began a protest against the treatment meted out to JMI students, with some boycotting semester exams.
At JMI, the campus was deserted. The police closed the Sarita Vihar-kalindi Kunj road for traffic as the number of protesters outside the gate swelled. Around noon, minor clashes broke out between protesting students and ABVP members. The ABVP said they went to the north Campus because the protesters were stopping other students from writing exams. Around 2.40pm, a verbal spat took place between ABVP members and those from other students’ organisations. Police had to intervene to control the situation. After rounds of discussion, the protesters agreed to vacate the site and moved to Jantar Mantar around 3pm.
The protest site changed again when the Congress said senior leader Priyanka Gandhi would hold a sit-in protest at the India Gate lawns at 4pm.
After Gandhi left at around 6 pm, another group of protesters, mostly civilians and students, took over and started reading the Preamble of the Constitution.
Explaining why they were reading the Preamble, Shreya Srivastava, a law student currently interning in Delhi, said, “The Preamble is the soul of the country and this is the time to remind the government about it.”