At least 34 people have been killed over the four days of clashes that broke out in the northern part of New Delhi during demonstrations against India's citizenship law amendments, Indian media reported on Thursday
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th February, 2020) At least 34 people have been killed over the four days of clashes that broke out in the northern part of New Delhi during demonstrations against India's citizenship law amendments, Indian media reported on Thursday.
Previous reports said that 20 people had died and more than 250 been injured since the clashes started early in the week.
According to news channel NDTV, protesters set fire to houses, stores, cars and a gas station, and threw stones at local residents and police officers. New Delhi authorities have imposed a curfew in the riot-affected areas and called on the national government to send in troops to manage the situation.
Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Indian National Congress party, demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Amit Shah for failing to control violence in New Delhi. She also criticized police for remaining "paralyzed for the past 72 hours," and said that the remarks made by many high-ranking supporters of the new law created an "atmosphere of fear and hatred," the broadcaster added.
India has been suffering from the ongoing unrest since last December, when the national parliament passed a bill amending the 1955 Indian citizenship law, which envisages fast-tracking citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who had fled from neighboring Muslim countries before December 2014, while Muslims themselves were excluded. This triggered a strong backlash among the Indian Muslim community, which believes that the amendments violate the constitution, as it oppresses a group of citizens in a secular country on religious grounds.
