New protests against India's new citizenship law renewed today, Friday, despite the strict security measures imposed by the authorities, including curfews and cut off internet and telephone services in some areas, after clashes that left several dead.
She went out after the Friday prayers at the Jami Mosque in the Old City in the capital, New Delhi, a massive demonstration denouncing the new law defining the conditions for granting Indian citizenship, which was adopted by the Indian Parliament on the 11th of this month, which sees the large Muslim minority in the country (approximately 200 million out of a total of 1.3 billion ) It is part of the national government led by Narendra Modi to marginalize and remove millions of them, and to transform India from a secular state to a Hindu state.
Police said the area where the mosque is located is not covered by the curfew, which was imposed in several areas of the capital after demonstrations condemning the citizenship law.
In anticipation of the day's demonstrations after Friday prayers, the Indian police today imposed strict measures around several mosques in the capital and other areas.
In Lucknow, which lies within the most populated state of Uttar Pradesh in India, clashes erupted between demonstrators and the police, who used sticks and gas canisters.
The clashes began when the police tried to prevent hundreds of protesters from going to a site where a protest against the citizenship law would be organized.
A doctor told Agence France-Presse that a protester died on Thursday from a gunshot wound, while the police denied using live ammunition against the protesters.
Since the protests began a week ago, nine people have been killed, including five in Assam (North) and two in Karnataka (South), while yesterday only 1,200 people were arrested in New Delhi and hundreds of others in separate areas.
| Intensive deployment of Indian security forces in Ahmedabad city, Gujarat state, western India (Reuters) |
Under the pretext of protecting against religious persecution, the new law permits the granting of Indian citizenship to hundreds of thousands of migrants who entered the country until the end of 2014 from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and it includes Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and other religious denominations with the exception of Muslims.
Tens of thousands participated yesterday in massive demonstrations against the citizenship law in several states, and the protests included the state of Gujarat (west) from which the prime minister of the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP came from, and the city of Mangalore (south) in which two protesters were shot dead by the police.
In addition to imposing a three-day curfew in several cities with large Muslim populations, the Indian authorities temporarily cut off Internet or telephone service partly or entirely in several regions, in an attempt to prevent the expansion of protests.