Image Courtesy: Youtube
Just two days after the buzzing city of Mumbai welcomed the new year in its usual pomp and show, few people gathered to show that the spirit of protests has not been lost. This time Mumbai came together to protest against the police brutality in Uttar Pradesh, the worst affected state in that regard which saw over 25 deaths, over thousands getting detained and arrested, minors being detained and allegedly abused in custody and now also terror from the administration which is in the process of confiscating properties of people allegedly involved in violence during protests that caused damage to public property.
While the background of the protests is majorly anti-CAA, the clampdown of the state on these protests and the resultant police excess has given a new reason for protests to erupt. When police unleashed its terror in Jamia Milia Islamia University in Delhi, Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh had stood in solidarity which in turn also faced much police brutality in response to which many University students across the country showed their support.
Protestors came out with posters that read “we condemn UP Police” and “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty” to show their agitation towards the police violence on protestors in UP. One of the protestors compared CAA and NRC to the Nuremberg laws of Germany.
Another protestor said, “Our Constitution is in danger. They are preparing for a Hindu Rashtra. This is not about Hindus and Muslim, people are protesting to save the country. UP police has attacked unarmed people and we are here to condemn that.”
Some protestors called the situation in UP as “Yogi Raj”. One protestor even questioned that when will the UP administration hold the policemen responsible for vandalising people’s property which they did by entering people’s homes and shops, just like they are sending notices to people for damaging public property.
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