Citizenship Amendment Bill: Protests erupt in Indian northeast states
Police fired rubber bullets and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse protesters against the Citizenship Amendment bill in Assam's Dibrugarh district as fresh unrest erupted a day after a total shutdown in several parts of India's north eastern states against proposed legislation's passage in the Lok Sabha.
A journalist was injured in stone-pelting by a mob and the police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse them near a polytechnic institute in Dibrugarh town, reports our New Delhi correspondent quoting police sources.
Police resorted to charging batons to disperse protesters to clear the roads and rail tracks near Chaulkhowa in Dibrugarh.
Though no organisation called for a strike today, people took to the streets in large numbers in Jorhat, Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia, Sivasagar, Bongaigaon, Nagaon, Sonitpur and several other districts of Assam since morning.
In view of the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in Assam, the Northeast Frontier Railway today cancelled many trains and rescheduled a few that originate from the state.
Violent protests had also broke out in northeastern states against the bill.
The Tripura government yesterday clamped down on mobile internet and SMS services across the state for 48 hours because of the protests.
An ailing two-month-old baby died while being taken to a hospital in Sepahijala district of Tripura as anti-bill protests blocked traffic, police said.
A shutdown was called by powerful student outfits in the Northeast who allege that the bill could rob the north eastern region of its ethnic identities and lead to fresh immigration from Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took the Twitter to dub the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as a "criminal attack on the northeast" and an attempt by the government to "ethnically cleanse" the region.
"The CAB is an attempt by (Narendra) Modi-(Amit) Shah govt to ethnically cleanse the North East. It is a criminal attack on the North East, their way of life and the idea of India. I stand in solidarity with the people of the North East and am at their service," Rahul tweeted.
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