Earlier today, we had reported how the Jafrabad-Seelampur area was tense all weekend clashes erupted between groups protesting and supporting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Now, several activists and civil society members have written to the Delhi Police Commissioner urging him to take necessary steps to prevent the escalation of violence in North East Delhi that has turned into a virtual tinder-box.
Activists and academics Yogendra Yadav, Apoorv Anand, Annie Raja, Kavita Srivastava, Saba Dewan, Rahul Roy, Anjali Bhardwaj, Amrita Johri, Nadeem Khan, Nikhil Dey and Rakshita Swamy, have in their letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik said, “We are hearing extremely concerning news regarding deteriorating law and order situation in Delhi in the North East District. If situation is not brought under control, we fear there may be loss of life.” They go on to say, “We believe the police must act immediately to bring the situation under control and take all necessary action.”
It may be recalled that after a portion of road number 9 was opened up near Shaheen Bagh around 500 protesters, mainly women, decided to hold a sit-in protest near Jafrabad Metro Station. The administration temporarily shut down the station. There were also allegations and a video of a truck dumping large stones, rocks and pieces of debris at a site where a pro-CAA rally was being held. In fact, through out the weekend reports kept coming in of pro and anti- CAA groups pelting stones at each other. While each side blames the other for starting the violence, the blame game has obviously done little to de-escalate the violence.
There is also widespread panic in the area and social media and messaging services were flooded with posts seeking information about people who might be stuck amidst the violence. One such message says, “We are unable to reach our friend T****r in Jaffrabad. She lives there with her sister and the in the last phone call, she communicated to us that the situation has turned very violent and people have been arming themselves with knifes and sticks.
The letter by activists may be read here:
