New Delhi:
Anti-government posters covered the long boundaries of Jamia Millia Islamia as protest against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens outside the university continued for the third consecutive day on Wednesday.
The protesters, including students and local residents, hung a large map of India outside the varsity gate number 7 showing the places where students from other universities across the country are carrying out protests against the CAA.
Another large poster urged the protesters “to maintain the acceleration with zero violence (sic)”.
People from nearby areas and students started gathering outside the gate number 7 around 10:30 am.
They raised slogans against Home Minister Amit Shah, the government and the Delhi Police, demanding withdrawal of the CAA.
“We don’t know if we will win or lose, but the fight will continue,” a student said addressing the gathering.
Joining the protest around noon, social activist Medha Patkar said it was not “citizenship amendment act but citizen amendment act”.
“If it came to NRC, we vow not to participate in it,” she said and asked the protesters to follow the path of non-violence shown by Mahatma Gandhi.
The government wants to deflect attention from the real issues of bread and butter by pitching one community against another, she alleged.
The protest gained momentum after 1 pm when schoolchildren and women from the neighbourhood joined it.
A few protesters taped their mouths and wore black bands. Some children in school uniform stood atop Jamia’s boundary walls holding placards.
Police teams remained deployed on the roads leading to the university.
Entry and exit gates remained opened at Sukhdev Vihar and Jamia Millia Islamia metro stations.
This is the third consecutive day of peaceful protests after the demonstration on Sunday turned violent.
On Monday and Tuesday, thousands of students took to the streets demanding a probe into the use of teargas on Sunday inside the Jamia university’s library as well as police entering the campus without permission from university authorities.
Scores of protesters including Jamia students, policemen and locals were injured, four DTC buses were torched and over 100 private vehicles and 10 police bikes were also damaged in the violence and arson that took place during the protest on Sunday.
