Guwahati: The curfew imposed in the wake of protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, has been relaxed from 9 am to 6 pm today by the administration.
“Curfew being relaxed today in Guwahati from 9 am to 6 pm,” said GP Singh, Additional DGP Law, and Order, Assam.
Yesterday, when the curfew was relaxed, a huge rush was witnessed in markets and outside ATMs as people made beeline for essential commodities.
Protests have broken out in Guwahati and other parts of Assam following the passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in Parliament on Wednesday, and it becomes an Act thereupon after the Presidential assent on Thursday.
As many as 26 Army columns have been deployed in Assam to assist the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to handle the situation.
On Thursday, two people died in protests against the Act while the suspension of mobile Internet services was extended for another 48 hours in 10 districts of Assam.
Earlier, the administration had suspended mobile Internet services for 24 hours on Wednesday in 10 districts of the state — Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Kamrup (metro) and Kamrup.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.