After Jamia, protest rocks Delhi’s Seelampur
The protest over Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) on Tuesday moved out of the universities in the national Capital to North East Delhi’s Seelampur on Tuesday as hundreds of protesters torched several bikes, pelted stones at the Delhi Police and damaged public buses.
The Delhi Police used force and fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters. Plumes of smoke billowed from at least two localities in the area as the standoff continued for around one-and-a-half hours on Tuesday afternoon. Police said the situation was brought under control and adequate police force has been deployed to maintain law and order in the area.
Twenty-one people, including 12 policemen and six civilians, were injured in violence, police said. Police said the protesters were marching from Seelampur towards adjoining Jafrabad. Clashes erupted between police and protesters at Seelampur Chowk when the security personnel tried to stop them from moving ahead. The fresh clashes erupted two days after violence broke out during a march in the New Friends’ Colony in South Delhi near Jamia Millia Islamia.
According to Anil Mittal, the Additional Public Relation Officer (APRO), Delhi Police, two First Information Reports (FIRs) has been registered at Jafrabad and Seelampur police station regarding the violence.
“Police have detained five people. One police personnel condition is said to be serious. He has been referred to Guru Tej Bahadur (GTB) hospital for the treatment,” said Mittal.
Meanwhile, protesters alleged that they were baton charged by police, however, their claims were denied by the police. The protesters did not even spare the ‘school buses’, carrying children in Seelampur area, to vent out their anger as they pelted stones and bricks on the buses. Police on the spot somehow managed to evacuate the buses filled with school children. Several videos of the violence at Seelampur area were doing rounds on social media. According to police, three bikes were burnt by the demonstrators, two police booth in the area were vandalised and CCTV cameras installed there were taken away by the mob.
A police officer said the windshields of two buses were damaged by the mob. A Rapid Action Force bus was pelted with stones.
“The protest began at around 12 noon. The protesters raised slogans against the new law as well as the National Register of Citizens (NRC). There were initially small groups of people who started the protest against the CAA and they went in lanes and bylanes of Seelampur. By the time they came on the Jafrabad main road, there were almost 3,000 people and the police were escorting them,” said a senior police official.
“They were moving towards Seelampur T-point where barricades were placed. Several announcements were made requesting them to disperse. When they started dispersing, suddenly stones were hurled. We made several requests to them not to pelt stones, but they did not relent, forcing us to use tear gas to disperse them,” he said.
Police said they have taken the locals into confidence in the area and also interacted with heads of mosques and madrasa there. Gates of seven metro stations were closed in the wake of the protest, and five of them were reopened after some time. Traffic was also diverted from the area.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed Delhiites to maintain peace, saying violence cannot be tolerated in a civilised society.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its Seelampur MLA Haji Ishraq urged the people to register their protest peacefully after the area witnessed violence. “I am appealing all the people to register protest and convey their message peacefully,” Ishraq said in a video message.
He urged locals and youngsters not to venture out on the main roads of the area to protest. Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh said people should maintain peace and protest peacefully.