Deaths rise to 24 from riots in Delhi during Trump trip
NEW DELHI — At least 24 people were killed and 189 injured in three days of clashes in New Delhi that coincided with President Donald Trump’s first state visit to India, with the death toll expected to rise as hospitals continue to take in the wounded, authorities said Wednesday.
Shops, Muslim shrines and vehicles were left smoldering from violence between Hindu mobs and Muslims protesting a new citizenship law that fast-tracks naturalization for foreign-born religious minorities of all major faiths in South Asia except Islam.
Twenty-four deaths were reported at two hospitals in New Delhi, officials said.
The clashes were the worst communal riots in the Indian capital in decades. The law’s passage in December earlier spurred massive protests across India that left 23 dead, many of them killed by police.
The dead in this week’s violence included a policeman and an intelligence bureau officer, and the government has banned public assembly in the affected areas.
Officials reported no new violence Wednesday as large police reinforcements patrolled the areas.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval toured the neighborhoods of Delhi where the rioting occurred, seeking to assure fear-stricken residents including a female student who complained that police had not protected them from mobs.
While clashes wracked parts of the capital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted a lavish reception for Mr. Trump, including a rally in his home state of Gujarat attended by more than 100,000 people and the signing of an agreement to purchase more than $3 billion of American military hardware.