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Across India, opposition building against citizenship law Indian students decry police as citizenship protests grow
(about 8 hours later)
NEW DELHI — Thousands of university students flooded the streets of India’s capital, while a southern state government led a march and demonstrators held a silent protest in the northeast on Monday against a new law giving citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India illegally to flee religious persecution in neighboring countries. NEW DELHI — Indian student protests that turned into violent clashes with police galvanized opposition nationwide on Tuesday to a new law that provides a path to citizenship for non-Muslim migrants who entered the country illegally from several neighboring countries.
The protests in New Delhi followed a night of violent clashes between police and demonstrators at Jamia Millia Islamia University. People who student organizers said were not students set three buses on fire and police stormed the university library, firing tear gas at students crouched under desks. A march by students from New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University descended into chaos Sunday when demonstrators set three buses on fire. Police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. Videos showed officers running after unarmed protesters and beating them with wooden sticks.
Members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party said opposition parties were using the students as pawns. Hanjala Mojibi, an English major at the predominantly Muslim school, said that when he and others saw police enter the campus, they walked toward them with their hands up to indicate their protest was nonviolent.
Modi’s government says the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which was approved by Parliament last week, will make India a safe haven for Hindus and other religious minorities in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. But critics say the legislation, which for the first time conditions Indian citizenship on religion, violates the secular constitution of the world’s largest democracy. “The police made all 15 of us kneel and started beating us. They used lots of abusive words. One of them removed my prescription glasses, threw (them) on the ground, broke them and told me to look down,” Mojibi said at a news conference in tears.
At Jamia Millia Islamia University on Monday, thousands stood outside the locked-down campus. Inside, hundreds of students took part in a peaceful sit-in, holding placards denouncing the injuries of dozens of students the night before. Simultaneously, police stormed Aligarh Muslim University in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday firing tear gas and injuring five students who were participating in a student-led demonstration, university spokesman Rahat Abrar said.
Mujeeb Ahmad, a 21-year-old Arabic major, returned to campus Monday to join the sit-in and retrieve the book bag he lost fleeing the library, where he had been studying for exams. Shahid Hussain, a 25-year-old history major, said police broke the windows of his dormitory and lobbed a tear gas canister inside. He said after fleeing the building to escape the fumes, police pushed him against a tree and beat him with sticks.
“We thought we were safe in the library,” he said, adding that he and others had locked the library doors from the inside. Policemen broke them down, and at least one officer fired tear gas, he said, holding up an empty canister he said he picked up from the library floor. Police spokesman Sunil Bainsla denied the account, calling the allegations of police brutality “lies.”
About 2,000 people including students and families with young children gathered at New Delhi’s iconic India Gate memorial to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act and reports of students demonstrating against the law who were beaten by police at several university campuses. Priyanka Gandhi, a leader of the opposition Congress party, participated at a sit-in at India Gate for two hours. Police stood on the sidelines of the demonstration. The police response to Sunday’s protests has drawn widespread condemnation. It also seems to have sparked a broader movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act, with demonstrations erupting across the country.
The law’s passage has triggered protests across India, but Assam, the center of a decades-old movement against illegal immigrants, has seen the highest toll. “The 15th of December is a black day in the history of this country,” said human rights activist Farah Naqvi.
Assam police officials say officers have fatally shot five protesters in the state capital of Gauhati while attempting to restore order to a city that has been engulfed in demonstrations since last week. About 1,500 people have been arrested for violence including arson and vandalism, police spokesman G.P. Singh said, adding that authorities were reviewing surveillance videos and anticipated making more arrests. The new law applies to Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally but can demonstrate religious persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It does not apply to Muslims.
Schools remain closed through Dec. 22, the government has blocked internet service statewide and a curfew has been imposed from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Foreign journalists are not permitted to travel to India’s northeastern region, including Assam, without a permit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has described the new law as a humanitarian gesture.
Municipal workers were clearing the city of burned tires and other debris on Monday and some businesses had reopened as the All Assam Students Union, which has spearheaded Assam’s anti-immigration movement for decades, led a silent protest. The group and its followers fear an influx of migrants will dilute native Assamese culture and political sway. While it was being debated in Parliament last week, Home Minister Amit Shah said it was “not even .001% against minorities. It is against infiltrators.”
The citizenship law follows a contentious citizenship registry process in Assam intended to weed out people who immigrated illegally. Home Minister Amit Shah has pledged to roll it out nationwide, promising to rid India of “infiltrators.” “This Act illustrates India’s centuries old culture of acceptance, harmony, compassion and brotherhood,” Modi tweeted Monday.
But critics say it is intended to help the party transform a multicultural and secular India into a Hindu “rastra,” or distinctly Hindu state and further marginalize India’s 200 million Muslims.
India is 80% Hindu and 14% Muslim, which means it has one of the largest Muslim populations of any country in the world.
“It is as if Indian citizens are rising to save the Indian Constitution from the Indian state and the state policy,” said Naqvi, the rights activist.
Police spokesman M.S. Randhawa said 10 people were arrested during Sunday’s protest at Jamia Millia Islamia University from Jamia Nagar, a Muslim neighborhood near the university.
“We found out that the arrested men had instigated the crowds and were also responsible for also vandalizing the public property,” Randhawa said.
Students said police lobbed tear gas shells inside the campus, broke down the doors of the library and yanked students out to assault them. Dozens of students were taken to hospitals for treatment.
Police have denied the charges and said they acted with restraint.
The citizenship law follows a contentious citizenship registry process in northeastern India’s Assam state intended to weed out people who immigrated to the country illegally.
Nearly 2 million people in Assam were excluded from the list, about half Hindu and half Muslim, and have been asked to prove their citizenship or else be considered foreign. India is constructing a detention center for some of the tens of thousands of people the courts are expected to ultimately determine came to the country illegally.Nearly 2 million people in Assam were excluded from the list, about half Hindu and half Muslim, and have been asked to prove their citizenship or else be considered foreign. India is constructing a detention center for some of the tens of thousands of people the courts are expected to ultimately determine came to the country illegally.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill could provide protection and a fast track to naturalization for many of the Hindus left off Assam’s citizenship list. Home Minister Shah has pledged to roll it out the program nationwide, promising to rid India of “infiltrators.”
Bangladesh has repeatedly said that it would not accept anyone India determines to be a foreigner, but on Sunday, Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen said it has asked the Modi government for details on Bangladeshis living illegally in India so that they could be repatriated. The Citizenship Amendment Act could provide protection and a fast track to naturalization for many of the Hindus left off Assam’s citizenship list, while explicitly leaving out Muslims.
Momen made the comment amid concern that people were being pushed into Bangladesh from the Indian state of West Bengal. The backlash to the law came as an unprecedented crackdown continued in Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority area, which was stripped of special constitutional protections and its statehood in August. Since then, movement and communications have been restricted.
Authorities in Bangladesh say at least 329 people were arrested on charges of trespassing from India last month and failing to prove they are Bangladeshis. “Our country is not just for Hindus,” said Chanda Yadav, 20, a Hindi literature student who was participating in a sit-in Monday at Jamia Millia Islamia University. “I feel it is my moral right to protest against something which divides us as a community.”
Momen said if they are determined to be non-Bangladeshi they will be sent back to India.
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Associated Press writers Wasbir Hussain in Gauhati, India, and Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, contributed to this report. Associated Press writer Chonchui Ngashangva contributed to this report.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.