Groups for, against CAA clash on streets of Delhi
Two groups of people protesting against and in favour of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, threw stones at each other in northeast Delhi’s Jafrabad on Saturday in the latest round of violence over the amended law, which has triggered protests across the country since December last year.
Sunday’s tension in the national capital, which saw police resorting to firing tear gas shells and using batons, began after anti-caa protesters blocked Jafrabad Road, which runs underneath the Jafrabad Metro station around 10pm on Saturday night, the police said. The two groups blamed each other for starting the violence.
The protests and the subsequent violence forced the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to shut the entry and exit gates of the Jafrabad Metro station at 8.30am and of Maujpur-babarpur station at 5pm. The gates were shut till the end of Metro operations on Sunday, DMRC said.
The stone-pelting began after a group supporting CAA at the Maujpur crossing protested the blockade by those demonstrating against the law a kilometre away, the police said. While witnesses said the pro- and anti-caa protesters clashed in the area, the
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police said they were trying to ascertain the identity of those involved in the violence.
Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (eastern range), said the violence involved “stray elements” in Jafrabad and Maujpur between 4.30pm and 5pm.
One of the carriageways on the road remained barricaded as of late Sunday night as the anticaa protesters continued their sit-in.
The road serves as one of the key feeders to GT Road, which it intersects near Seelampur Metro station. The Delhi Police said the number of anti-caa protesters was about 6,000 during the day and 2,000 by the evening.