Protestors agitating against the amended Citizenship Act clashed with police on Sunday and set afire DTC buses and a fire tender in New Friends' Colony in southeast Delhi leaving a cop and two fire personnel injured, the police have claimed. One fire tender was completely damaged and two personnel were injured in the violence by the protesters. A Delhi Fire Services official said four fire tenders were rushed to the spot.
Visuals doing the rounds on social media showed flames billowing out of a state government bus. However, another video put on Twitter claimed that there were some police officials who were also involved in the arson. The students claimed that "certain" local elements had "disrupted" their protest and indulged in violence. Jamia Millia Teachers' Association has also disassociated with the violence and arson that took place near the university Sunday afternoon.
#NRC #CAB #Delhiviolence New Friends Colony pic.twitter.com/Z6pcgooO1A
— Arjun Yadav (@arjun102) December 15, 2019
Situation at Jamia turns violent again. Buses burnt, cars broken. Stone pelting, lathcharged. pic.twitter.com/HwKebWOV9f
— Kainat Sarfaraz. (@kainisms) December 15, 2019
Why Delhi Police is throwing fuel in the bus? The plan is to blame jamia students turning violent and shoot them?? pic.twitter.com/LwzyUEbTIa
— Dhiraj (@AAPlogical) December 15, 2019
Soon after the violence, police entered the Jamia Millia Islamia campus and blocked the university gates to nab some "outsiders" who had entered the premises to hide, sources told PTI.
The sources said that as the police tried to disperse the protesters by using baton change and firing teargas shells, some of the "outsiders" ran towards the campus and tried to hide there. The police personnel entered the campus and blocked the gates to nab these miscreants, they said.
Saimon Farooqui, the national secretary of Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India, claimed the protesters were peacefully sitting on Mathura Road when policemen tried to "trouble" a couple of them, who resisted. They said they returned to campus as the protest turned violent and were protesting on campus peacefully. Some of the protesters claimed that the police baton charged them when they were holding a peaceful agitation.
Meanwhile, following the violence, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) closed the entry and exit gates of the Sukhdev Vihar Metro station on Sunday evening in view of the violent protests.
"As advised by Delhi Police, entry & exit gates of Sukhdev Vihar and gate no. 3 of Ashram have been closed. Trains will not be halting at Sukhdev Vihar," the DMRC tweeted.
Entry and exit gates of Jamia Millia Islamia, Okhla Vihar and Jasola Vihar Shaheen Bagh have also been closed with no trains halting at these stations.
(With PTI inputs)