Protests on CAA, NRC keep administration on its toes

With a slew of anti-Citizenship Act demonstrations and protests against NRC announced for Thursday, the authorities are on high alert as they gear up for a busy day in Delhi and other parts of the country.

Various groups earlier gave a nation-wide bandh call.

In Delhi, the authorities have refused permission for a protest march to be taken out from the historic Red Fort and Section 144 of the CrPC that prohibits gathering of four or more people has been invoked around the Red Fort area in central Delhi.

Despite that various groups are trooping to the venue, causing major traffic jams in the border areas.

In Bihar, the bandh call has begun affecting normal life in different parts of Bihar. Roads were blocked in Hajipur, Purnea and Arrah districts of the state. Traffic movement has been restricted on account of the blockades set up by protestors in different locations of the state.

Train services have also been affected in several locations of Bihar.

Meanwhile in Karnataka, where the BJP is heading the government, Section 144 has been enforced in Bengaluru and some other parts of the state, from Thursday 6 a.m. till midnight of December 21. This is in keeping with the protests planned by many political and other activist groups, against the CAA and NRC.

The police have decided to deny permission for any kind of protests in the state.

Since last week, widespread protests in the Northeast and other parts of the country over the newly enacted Citizenship Amendment Act provides citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who faced religious persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

In Delhi, protests turned violent since Sunday and has been simmering in various pockets, with several arrests made and cases registered.IANS