Several protests were witnessed against the newly introduced Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) and proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the national Capital. About 10 protesters, including students, were detained in Central Delhi's Turkman Gate on Thursday. Scores of Delhi University students also came together to voice their dissent against the amended Citizenship Law outside the Arts faculty of the university.
The protest at Turkman gate started from Wednesday night. The detainees were taken to Rajinder Nagar police station and were later released in the evening.
The students of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and some locals had started protesting at Turkman Gate at 3 pm on January 15 and were there till around 7 am on Thursday. "We were about to leave from the protest site when the police crackdown happened," said a protester.
Sara Javed Chawla, one of the protestors, said police detained some of the demonstrators on Thursday morning. "I was in Khureji last night when I got to know about the protest at Turkman Gate. Several women were protesting here and I rushed to join them."
The shopkeepers in the area closed their establishments and came out to form a human chain. The protesters said they will again come out on road in the evening.
The students alleged that their phones were snatched and the police have manhandled them. "All the detainees were at the Rajinder Nagar Police Station and will be released by 4 pm," said Advocate Tanvi Sharma, part of the legal aid team that rushed to the police station. There were reports that around 30 students had been detained but Tanvi said that only 10 people have been detained and only a few among them are students.
At Delhi University hundreds of students came together to voice their dissent against the amended citizenship law outside the Arts faculty of the varsity.
Anju Simon, a law student, said, "Change is happening and people are coming out to protest. It gives us positivity."
Sehmat KP, another law student, said, "I am a law student and it scares me whether I will have this Constitution after I finish my studies. It is important to study in classrooms but it is important to protest also."