Kanpur erupts again with pitched battle
Saturday also saw violence spreading to Rampur, leaving one person dead
KANPUR/LUCKNOW: A pitched battle, including use of gun-fire, between police and anti-CAA protesters engulfed Talaq Mahal and Yatimkhana areas of Kanpur on Saturday, the second consecutive day the city witnessed large-scale violence and arson.
“One police constable, Arpit Kumar, received a gunshot injury on his shoulder and some other policemen were also hurt,” said ADG Kanpur zone Prem Prakash.
Superintendent of police (rural) Praduman Singh said: “Rioters attacked police. Police have not fired back yet. The rioters attempted to set the Yatimkhana police outpost on fire. We have arrested seven rioters so far”.
“The rioters, to foil police action, were seen switching off streetlights to make it difficult for us to take action against them,” Singh said.
Two of the 13 people who received bullet injuries during protests on Friday, died in LLR hospital on Saturday. They were injured in alleged police firing in Babupurwa area of Kanpur.
Police arrested Samajwadi Party MLA Amitabh Bajpai for allegedly inciting violence, said Prakash. “A case is being registered against him and a former MLA (Kamlesh Divakar); they are under arrested for instigating the violence,” he said.
Bajpai, however, said he was helping the administration in restoring peace.
Meanwhile, a person died in Rampur on Saturday as violence spread to the district and also Amroha.
More deaths were reported from other districts where violence happened after Friday prayers, taking the death toll to 18 since Thursday, when violence was reported in the state capital during protests.
Inspector General (IG) of Police, law and order, Praveen Kumar confirmed 15 deaths, including four in Meerut, two each in Kanpur, Firozabad, Bijnor and Sambhal and one each in Rampur and Muzaffarnagar since Friday while one death was reported in Lucknow violence on Thursday. He maintained that none of the deaths were due to police firing.
However, sources said five people were killed in Meerut while an eight-year-old boy died in a stampede in Varanasi on Friday. One more person died in Firozabad on Saturday.
In Kanpur, violence erupted in the old city on Saturday evening after a day-long calm. Police and rioters clashed and the latter fired upon the police several times in the densely populated Yatimkhana-Talaq Mahal stretch.
The mob that allegedly threw petrol bombs on the police also tried to set the Yatimkhana police post on fire. Apart from burning six vehicles they also damaged 30 other vehicles. Heavy police force was deployed in the area to bring the situation under control.
“Officers and policemen were conducting raids to nab rioters who retreated in lanes and by-lanes,” said an officer on the spot. Yesterday the area had seen the biggest mobilisation of people to protest the new citizenship act and NRC.
People come out on the streets since noon after reports of two deaths in police firing began to percolate and police refusal to allow burial in Bagahi Eidgah, in Babupurwa area.
Their numbers swelled when All India Union Muslim League organised a dharna at Dr Berry Crossing against the CAA and NRC. As the sit in ended the people moved towards Yatimkhana. They demanded compensation of Rs 50 lakh each to families of victims and withdrawal of all criminal cases against protesters.
With the gathering concentrated on the Talaq Mahal-Yatimkhana stretch, police attempted to push them back, which served as the trigger for a fresh round of violence.
The violence happened when ADG Kanpur zone Prem Prakash was close by, at Nai Sarak, and SSP Anant Deo and district magistrate Vijay Vishwas Pant were holding talks with people at Babupurwa for a peaceful burial of the deceased protesters.
IG Praveen Kumar said at least 705 people have been arrested so far and 124 FIRs registered across the state in connection violence, arson and protests. He said police deployment has been increased in over a dozen of violent hit districts while central paramilitary forces have been rushed in to highly sensitive districts like Kanpur, Meerut, Firozabad, Rampur and Sambhal.
A senior home department official said internet shut-down has been extended till Monday afternoon in at least 15 districts to contain objectionable and inflammatory posts on social media and instant messaging applications.
In Rampur, violence and arson broke out in Hathi Khana Chowk on Saturday morning where hundreds of people gathered to protest against CAA. Police said the protestors first got involved in intense sloganeering and then clashed with police.
Police officials said police resorted to baton charge and fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob. They said some protestors also opened fire with illegal firearms causing death of one person, who was also part of the protestors. They said violence began at 11 am and continued for two hours till 1 pm.
Additional director general of police, Bareilly Zone, Avinash Chandra rushed to the spot to control the situation. Before this, the police, as preventive action, had bound down nearly 500 persons, including Swar MLA and Rampur MP Azam Khan’s son, Abdullah Azam.
Meanwhile, Lucknow was peaceful for the second consecutive after violence on Thursday.
Eleven districts -- Meerut, Kanpur, Bulandshahr, Gorakhpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bhadohi, Farukhabad, Hapur, Firozabad, Bijnor and Varanasi – were hit by arson and violence with Meerut, Kanpur, Firozabad and Varanasi being the worst affected districts on Friday. On Saturday, fresh violence occurred in Rampur and Amroha.