Mass Protests Against Citizenship Law Planned In Over 10 Cities Across India - Reports

Mass Protests Against Citizenship Law Planned in Over 10 Cities Across India - Reports

Large scale protests against the adoption of amendments to the controversial law on citizenship will be held on Thursday in more than 10 major cities across India, media reported

NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th December, 2019) Large scale protests against the adoption of amendments to the controversial law on citizenship will be held on Thursday in more than 10 major cities across India, media reported.

According to the Indian NDTV broadcaster, simultaneous marches are planned in Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Calcutta and others. The authorities in some cities, including New Delhi, have banned any gatherings.

The protest restrictions are also in effect for the capital of Karnataka state, Bangalore, and Lucknow, the high-tech industrial center of India and the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

On Wednesday, the Indian authorities strengthened security measures in New Delhi after a crowd of 2,000 protesters clashed with police a day earlier in Delhi's northeastern district of Seelampur. The demonstrators tried to break into the city center, but the officers were able to stop them. The police are now carrying out random security checks on the capital city's streets, and many educational institutions across India have been temporarily closed. The mobile internet connection has also been significantly limited.

The ongoing nationwide protests in India are a result of parliament passing last week's bill, which allowed citizenship for Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis facing persecution in neighboring countries. Muslims were excluded from the right to citizenship under the bill, with the exception seen as a fresh discriminatory attempt to sideline the nearly 200-million-strong Muslim community.

The law angered Indian Muslims, who believe that it violates the constitution, as it oppresses a group of citizens in a formally secular country on religious grounds. The residents of the country's northeastern states are fearing that now millions of people from Bangladesh could legally settle in their regions, which could threaten the interests of the local population.

On Wednesday, the Indian Supreme Court refused to suspend the implementation of the citizenship law as amended, despite the ongoing unrest in the country.