New Delhi: “When the Citizenship Bill was passed there was a lot of anger here. I’m a hostel student, that evening a lot of students came out of the hostel and marched towards the girls’ hostel in Jamia. There the girls joined us and there was a huge protest. Most of the university’s students were present.
“Today the students, teachers and staff were present at Gate no.7 in large numbers. We all gathered and took out a large protest. We intended to march to Parliament but the police had put barricades outside the campus. There was a lot of teargas shelling and a lathi charge as well.
“It is difficult to leave the campus. The police is coming after us right now.”
So says a residential student in Jamia on condition of anonymity. The police are saying that they haven’t arrested anyone, but the students’ organsiation here told me that there were some arrests, and 10 students are injured.
Joint protest
It was a joint protest by students, teachers and staff against the amendments to the Citizenship Act. They gathered and were to march to Parliament. According to several eyewitnesses and protestors the police violently intervened outside campus, there were clashes and injuries.
The barricades were set up on the main road outside the campus, near the Holy Family Hospital. This is where the teargas shelling took place.
At present the administration is trying to negotiate with students and asking them to return to their hostels, but they are still out on the streets. The level of anger is high.
Protest march
The police was present in full force in and around the campus from the afternoon and as soon as the students assembled to start the protest march, residents could only hear shouts and screams and the sound of bursting tear gas shells. The police chased the students into the alleys with bystanders being charged by the lathi wielding cops as well.
The social media is full of videos of the lathi charge, the sound of tear gas shells, and photographs of students being admitted to the Holy Family hospital. However despite the action the students stayed back in the gathering darkness and cold to continue their protest peacefully, shouting slogans against the government, the CAB, and demanding their rights. “Inquilab Zindabad” rent the air as both male and female students came together to oppose the discriminatory CAB.
Some photographs and video clips from Jamia this afternoon:
