Stone-pelting in Delhi over new CAA protest

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 23

On the eve of US President Donald Trump’s arrival in India, stone-pelting incidents between groups for and against the Citizenship Amendment Act were witnessed at Maujpur in northeast Delhi today, prompting police to fire tear gas shells.

Clashes erupted after BJP leader Kapil Mishra addressed a pro-CAA demonstration at Maujpur, 1 km from Jaffrabad Metro station where a Shaheen Bagh-like agitation against the law has been building up since last evening.

Hundreds of burqa-clad women are sitting at Jaffrabad Metro station demanding the withdrawal of CAA, which grants faster citizenship to non-Muslim minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Anti-CAA protests in the Capital have led to the closure of three roads — Shaheen Bagh-Kalindi Kunj-Sarita Vihar road, Wazirabad-Chandbagh road and Maujpur-Jaffrabad road — with sit-ins at Shaheen Bagh, Seelampur, Wazirabad and Jaffarabad. Agitations against the legislation are spreading even as the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors continued their attempts to convince Shaheen Bagh protesters to

shift to another site and vacate the arterial road that has inconvenienced people between Delhi and Noida.

After tensions simmered at Maujpur with Mishra saying he would not let another Shaheen Bagh come up in Delhi, police deployment in the area increased with an eye on Trump’s two-day visit. Mishra said no stone had been pelted from their side. Pro-CAA demonstrators were, meanwhile, heard raising “Bharat mata ki jai” and “Jai Shri Ram” slogans, while the women at Jaffarabad held Tricolours demanding “azadi”. Mishra said he had given a three-day ultimatum to the Delhi Police to get Jaffarabad and Chand Bagh roads vacated.