Communal...

Even journalists were not spared and asked to go back. A journalist with JK 24X7 News suffered a bullet wound and two reporters from NDTV were beaten and punched by rioters, according to news agency PTI. Two HT correspondents, who were at Bhajanpura, were surrounded by a mob and chased by two bikers.

Delhi Police spokesperson Mandeep Randhawa said 11 first information reports have been registered and 20-25 persons have been detained in connection with the violence. “The main reason behind violence escalating is that these areas have a mixed population and are too congested. Before police could respond, anti-social elements had incited violence, but we are responding to all incidents,” he said, adding that additional forces have been sanctioned by the home ministry.

The police directed the imposition of Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that prohibits the assembly of four or more people in violence-hit areas.

Of the 13 people who died in the clashes in the past 24 hours, 12 were civilians, according to doctors at the GTB hospital, where they were taken. Rattan Lal, a 42-year-old police constable, died on Monday after suffering head injuries due to stone-pelting.

On Tuesday, Shah wrote to the wife of slain Delhi Police head constable Ratan Lal, expressing his “grief” and “deep condolences”.

Five stations on the Delhi Metro’s Pink Line — Jafrabad, Maujpur-babarpur, Gokulpuri, Johri Enclave and Shiv Vihar — remained closed for the second consecutive day on Tuesday. Schools were shut. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) postponed Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations on Wednesday in the riot-hit Northeast Delhi. CBSE said it took the decision on the request of the Delhi government. The revised date is yet to be announced.

Some of those injured had to be brought to hospitals on bikes and vans after ambulances failed to make their way to the violencehit areas, news agency PTI quoted the police as saying. Protesters also targeted e-rickshaws and other vehicles.

Separately, Kejriwal held a meeting of legislators and officials of the affected areas, and advocated sealing Delhi’s borders to stop the entry of outsiders. Parts of North-east Delhi share borders with Uttar Pradesh. Later in the day, the Ghaziabad district administration sealed three routes connecting it to North-east Delhi.

“MLAS of the border areas have said that people are coming