In India, there have been violent clashes and further protests against a controversial new law which will ease citizenship for people from persecuted religious groups – but only if they aren’t Muslim.
Critics say it’s just the latest effort to marginalize India’s Muslim community by the Hindu nationalist government.
Although the UN has called the law ‘discriminatory’, India’s Prime Minister has claimed ‘no Indian has anything to worry about’.
Protests broke out across nine states, including in major cities such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and the capital New Delhi, mostly around university campuses. Meanwhile, ongoing protests in Assam, in India’s northeast, turned violent, with at least five people killed, police said.
In Delhi, students began demonstrating at the prestigious Jamia Milia Islamia university early Sunday, with around 2,000 people taking part at the protest’s peak. Hundreds of people were injured in the protests, and dozens arrested, as well as significant damage to the campus, said Najma Akhtar, the university’s vice chancellor.
Protesting students from the university told CNN they were beaten with batons and sticks, leaving 200 injured according to the university administration.
But this contradicts the Delhi Police’s version, who say they were unarmed and used minimum force to bring the crowds under control.
