Police fire tear gas shells as anti-CAA protesters turn violent in Jaffrabad and Aligarh

NEW DELHI: Clashes broke out Sunday evening between pro and anti-CAA groups near Jaffrabad in northeast Delhi where a large number of people had gathered to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Police fired tear gas shells as members of the two groups pelted stones at each other in Maujpur. For security reasons, the entry and exit gates of the Maujpur-Babarpur metro station were closed.

Gates of the Jaffrabad station were also closed earlier in the day as anti-CAA protests continued on Sunday after hundreds of demonstrators, mostly women, blocked a road near the metro station the previous evening.

The 500-strong group dominated by women staged a sit-in on Saturday night near the Jaffrabad metro station demanding a rollback of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act.

There was heavy security deployment in the area.

BJP leader Kapil Mishra had called a gathering near the Maujpur traffic signal in support of the amended citizenship law following which a second group had assembled in the area.

Later in the afternoon, a clash erupted between the two groups.

Taking to twitter, Mishra said, "We have given a three-day ultimatum to the Delhi Police to get the road cleared. Get the Jafrabad and Chandbagh road cleared".

In a video tweeted by him where he can be seen addressing the gathering, Mishra said, "They (protestors) want to create trouble in Delhi. That's why they have closed the roads. That's why they have created a riot-like situation here. We have not pelted any stone.

"Till US President is in India, we are leaving the area peacefully. After that we won't listen to you (police) if the roads are not vacated by then," he told the gathering.

Aman Sharma (22), a student and resident of Maujpur who was part of the group accompanying Mishra, said they were holding a protest against the closure of roads by those opposing the CAA.

"At around 2:30 pm, they (anti-CAA protestors) started pelting stones and glass bottles," he claimed.

Owing to security reasons, the entry and exit gates of the Maujpur-Babarpur metro station have been closed.

"Entry & exit gates of Maujpur-Babarpur are closed," DMRC said in a tweet.

Clashes also broke out between anti-CAA protesters and police in the old city area in Aligarh following incidents of arson and stone-pelting on late Sunday afternoon.

The police had fired teargas shells to disperse the mob indulging in vandalisation of property and throwing stones at security personnel in upper Kot area of the Kotwali police station, said police sources.

There were reports of injuries to some people but the exact number of those injured in clashes is yet to ascertained, they said.

Reports of brick-batting, arson were still coming in from a spot where some women protestors were holding a dharna since Saturday on the Mohamed Ali Road leading to the Kotwali police station with police trying to evict the protesters from there, they said.

The clashes broke out shortly after a Bhim Army-led march by hundreds of anti-CAA protesters heading to the district collectorate earlier were stopped midway by police and Rapid Action Force jawans.

Stopped by police, the protesters, however, had headed towards the Eidgah area in the city where another group of anti-CAA women protestors had been holding an indefinite dharna for the past three weeks.

As the Bhim Army-led protestors, including women, were stopped by police from moving ahead after they crossed over the Katpula Bridge from the old city, they decided to join the women protesters sitting in Eidgah area.

The protesters had taken out the march on a call by Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar.

Shops in some areas near Kotwali had downed their shutters.

Aligarh SSP Rajmuni, who took over the charge as the district police only last night, had earlier told mediapersons that following the abortive march, an FIR has been lodged against three persons at the Delhi Gate police station for trying to violate prohibitory orders and breach peace in the city.

The new SSP said he was monitoring the situation arising out of the anti-CAA protests, going on both at the AMU and the old city area.

He had said our "channels of communications with protesters are going to remain open but it does not mean we will allow anybody disturb the city's law and order".