More people across India join protests against new Citizenship Act – Several countries including USA, France express concern

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Indians shout slogans during a protest rally against the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Gauhati, India, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is postponing a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India’s northeast. The region has been the site of continuing protests against a new law that grants citizenship to non-Muslims who migrated from neighboring countries. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath)

NEW DELHI, Dec 14 (KUNA) — Protests against the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) swept across Indian states amid reports of large scale violence and vandalism in the state of West Bengal.


Several major Indian cities including those from the north eastern states, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telengana witnessed fresh protests, the Press Trust of India said.


Popular protests are spreading to new cities across India while north eastern states are continuing with their protests against the new Citizenship Act which would pave the way to Indian citizenship to prosecuted religious minorities belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities coming to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
Several countries including the US, the UK, Israel and Singapore have issued travel advisories to their citizens asking them to avoid north eastern Indian states.


Thousands of agitators gathered in several centers across New Delhi especially Jantar Mantar and the premises of Jamia Millia Islamia. The Delhi Metro was forced to shutter several gates especially those leading to the protest sites.


In West Bengal, media reports said that several buses and five trains were put on fire in Murshidabad.


Violence, vandalism and arson were reported from several cities across West Bengal as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked the protesters to keep away from violence and protect public properties.


In Assam, where at least six people were killed since the agitation against CAA started four days back, reports emerged of protests while government employees have announced to go on strike on December 18 to register their protest against the CAA.


Internet and transportation services are still suspended in the state while educational institutions remained closed.


Other north eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura also witnessed protests demanding to roll back the CAA.


In the southern Indian state of Kerala, thousands of Muslims gathered in the city of Calicut to express their opposition to the Act and demanded that the central government should not go ahead with the amended Citizenship Act while the ruling and opposition parties in the state have decided to organise a united protest march on coming Monday.


In Uttar Pradesh, Aligarh Muslim University was a major site of protests while several other cities also saw mobilising Muslims against the Act.

Meanwhile, UNHRC and Amnesty International and several countries including the US and France have expressed their concerns over the discriminatory nature of the Act and called upon the forces to observe maximum restrain when handling the protesters.

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