23 dead as protests grow against India citizenship law

Source: AP

By SHEIKH SAALIQ and EMILY SCHMALL

NEW DELHI (AP) — Violent protests against India’s citizenship law that excludes Muslim immigrants swept the country over the weekend despite the government’s ban on public assembly and suspension of internet services in many parts, raising the nationwide death toll to 23, police said.

Nine people died in clashes with police in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday, said state police spokesman Pravin Kumar. He said most of the victims were young people but denied police were responsible.

“Some of them died of bullet injuries, but these injuries are not because of police fire. The police have used only tear gas to scare away the agitating mob,” he said.

Around a dozen vehicles were set on fire as protesters rampaged through the northern cities of Rampur, Sambhal, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnore and Kanpur, where a police station was also torched, Singh said.



Indian students of the Jamia Millia Islamia University and locals participate in a protest demonstration against a new citizenship law in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019. Critics have slammed the law as a violation of India's secular constitution and have called it the latest effort by the Narendra Modi government to marginalize the country's 200 million Muslims. Modi has defended the law as a humanitarian gesture. Placard center reads "Stop attacking universities." (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)


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