Lawlessness, disorder as protesters run riot
Two groups, one opposed to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and largely composed of Muslims, and another, supporting the new law and mostly made up of Hindus, both armed with guns, swords, stones, sticks, rods, and petrol bombs, clashed in Northeast Delhi on Monday, leaving a policeman and four civilians dead, and at least 75 injured.
The communal clashes pointed to lapses in law enforcement and came just a few hours before US President Donald Trump landed in the Capital. Home ministry officials familiar with the matter said the clashes seemed to have been orchestrated to coincide with the highprofile visit, although home secretary Ajay Bhalla refused to speculate on the issue. He said the situation was under control. “Sufficient forces have been deployed; senior officers are in the field,” he told reporters.
Still, the intensity of the violence – among the worst scenes of rioting in the Capital since the 1984 anti-Sikh violence — seems to have taken the police by surprise. The clashes, in Jafrabad, neighbouring Maujpur and several other places in the vicinity, escalated rapidly, but weren’t entirely unexpected — given how the rapid eruption of protests across the city, and the ongoing 71-day blockade at Shaheen Bagh — have converted parts of the city into virtual time bombs.
Jafrabad is the site of a sit-in protest against CAA, much like the bigger one at Shaheen Bagh, where protesters have blocked off one of the main roads linking Delhi with Noida, for around two months. The Delhi Police and the Union home ministry, in charge of law enforcement in the city-state, have allowed the blockade at Shaheen Bagh to continue, despite the inconvenience to commuters on a daily basis.
NEW DELHI: When a lean young man emerged from a neighbouring street to land amid a violent mob on Jafrabad main road on Monday afternoon, it didn’t take pro-CAA demonstrators long to realise he didn’t belong to their camp. He had barely uttered his name on being asked, than the mob pounced on him with whatever they carried — iron rods, sticks and stones.
For the next few minutes, the mob beat him until he could no longer stand.
Initially, just a single policeman was trying to snatch him from the mob. Soon, more joined in to shield him from the blows, but they used only their bare hands to fight off the mob.
It was only when the injured man rose to his feet with the support of policemen and folded his hands in front of the mob, prompting a renewed assault, that the police resorted to a mild lathi-charge.
A few metres away, a taxi inadvertently landed on the riot-hit road. The mob chased the cab, brought it to a halt, forced open the doors and almost managed to drag the occupants out, when some people stepped in to rescue them and send them away. A dozen policemen stood a few metres away, watching.
Minutes earlier, on the opposite carriageway, four buildings were set ablaze by the mob that used torches, burning slippers and cloth balls to light the fire after their attempts to break the shutters of shops on the ground floors failed.
Each successful attempt at torching the buildings was met with loud claps and religious and political chants.
Dozens of policemen did nothing to disperse this mob. The crowd moved away only when the heat from the burning buildings became unbearable.
For a long while, two rival camps — one supporting the CAA and another against — near the Maujpur-Babarpur Metro station pelted stones at each other. When they failed to hit each other, they resorted to pelting stones at the panes of buildings around them. Afterwards, they brought down banners and hoardings of local businesses and tore them to shreds. A CCTV camera installed nearby recorded their vandalism, and the efforts of the mob to smash it like many others failed due to an iron mesh.
Some distance from this mob stood Vijay Pawar, a resident of Shamli in Uttar Pradesh, holding a pro-CAA placard. He had injuries to his hand and leg. “I came from Shamli on Sunday to protest the road blockade. I’ll be here till all roads in Delhi are cleared,” said Pawar, adding that he was hit by stones multiple times.
In streets adjacent to Jafrabad main road, people from rival camps guarded their entrances. Most remained indoors, while the younger ones took positions.
PROTESTERS ATTACK
SHOPS, CHASE TAXIS, SET FIRE TO BUILDINGS AS POLICE LOOK ON