Anti-CAA protests singe Lucknow too

The stir against the amended Citizenship Act singed Lucknow on Monday with students of an Islamic seminary and a private university here staging protests and confronting police a day after their AMU and Jamia counterparts clashing with men in khaki.

While the students of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema resorted to stone pelting at police and faced baton-charge by them, the private varsity, Integral University's students held a "peaceful protest" against the amended law, that seeks to give Indian citizenship to non-Muslims, persecuted in three neighbouring countries.

Following the threat to peace and law and order situation, both institutes were closed down by authorities for several days.

The trouble had been brewing in the Islamic seminary at Nadwa since Sunday night over rumours of a student's death at Jamia Milia Islamia University in New Delhi.

It broke out on early Monday morning with several students hitting the street outside the seminary campus and began sloganeering.

"Around 8.30 am, sloganeering resumed in Nadwa and the students forcibly got seminary gates opened and began staging protests on streets," the seminary spokesperson, Faizan Nagrami, told PTI.

Seminary sources said amid the protest by students, the institute's management called up police, which arrived at the scene and tried to stop them from marching towards the neighbouring Arts College.

On the intervention of seminary Principal Syed-ur-Rehman Azmi more than half of the protesting students went back inside the campus, but rest of them remained defiant, said Nagrami.

As police tried to force remaining students back into the seminary campus, some of the students sat on the ground while other lied down near the seminary gate to resist police, said eyewitnesses to the incident.

It prompted police to try to bodily lift some of the students and push them back into the seminary, said eye witnesses to the protest, adding this triggered stone pelting by students at policemen, who resorted to the cane charging.

Large pieces of bricks and stones lay strewn outside the seminary gate hours after the protests.

Lucknow SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said the stone pelting took place briefly but the situation was soon brought under control.

He said additional force will continue to remain deployed outside the seminary to prevent any untoward incident.

There was, however, no report of any injury to anyone on either side.

Nagrami said seminary students had tried to protest on Sunday night also but were pacified by the police and college administration.

"After the situation came under control, IG Lucknow (Range) S K Bhagat and SSP Naithani met the seminary Vice-Principal Abdul Aziz Bhatkali and spoke to him," said seminary spokesperson
Varsity VC Aqeel Ahmad said, "Some students of the university staged protests over police action in Jamia Milia Islamia University. The protests by the students were absolutely peaceful."