New Delhi, A march by Left-wing students of Jamia Millia Islamia university to Parliament turned violent on Friday after Delhi police, in a bid to stop the protest, lathi-charged the protestors.
The students belonging to the All India Students’ Association (AISA) were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Several media personnel were also injured in the students-police face-off.
After the protests, several messages were circulated on social media asking the students to boycott all the academic activities including the ongoing examinations.
Sources said that the students’ march was also joined by the locals, who threw stones at the policemen who responded by firing teargas shells which injured some students also.
Several students were injured and admitted to Holy Family Hospital after they were lathi-charged by the police.
Police ordered the lathi-charge after the students tried to break though the heavy barricades that were put up outside the university’s gate number one. In retaliation, they started pelting stones at the police personnel, compelling them to fire tear gas shells.
Later, during the protest that lasted for more than three hours, the students attacked the media personnel also. They were beaten, manhandled and harassed allegedly by students, who raised slogans like – ‘Godi media, go back!’. After many of the protestors returned, a huge number of them were still on the road, demanding that the press leave.
Among their other demands were the release of their detained fellow students and a commitment from the police that no cases will be lodged against them.
Parvez Hashmi, a former Member of Parliament while representing the protestors demanded that the Delhi police release all the detained protestors and also asked the men in khaki not to register any cases against the protestors after Friday’s incidents.
The rollback of the Citizenship Amendment Act was also one of the demands.
Around fifty protestors were detained and taken to Jaitpur and Badarpur police stations to bring the situation under control.
“Initially, minor force was used to disperse the protestors, but within minutes the crowd returned with stones in hand. Many of our men have been injured in the stone pelting,” said a senior police officer.
The students, however, blamed the police for the violence as they said that a lathi-charge and teargas were used on the protestors without any provocation.
“The police launched an attack on us and teargas was used frequently,” said Meharban, a student at Jamia Millia Islamia.