CAA protests: Lathicharge in Ahmedabad, partial shutdown in Vadodara

Section 144 was imposed in the city by police a few days ago, and police personnel along with State Reserve Police conducted flag marches and area domination exercise in “disturbed areas”. Multiple markets in old city area observed complete shutdown in solidarity with a bandh call given for Thursday. A number of civil activists, artists, students and politicians were detained by the police.

In Shah e Alam area of Ahmeda-bad, violence erupted around 5 pm when protesters threw stones and attacked police personnel and their vehicles. Multiple videos showed crowd chasing police control room vans with stones after which police fired tear gas shells and resorted to lathicharge. Several police officers and media personnel received injuries in the melee. Later, police conducted a flag march in the area.

“Two police officers and 10 police personnel were injured in the stone pelting at Shah e Alam on Thursday. We have detained 20 persons from the area but no FIR has been lodged yet. The situation is under control. Police had imposed section 144 a few days ago in Ahmedabad,” said Vishal Patel, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Control), Ahmedabad Police.

At Lal Darwaza area, police resorted to lathicharge multiple times in the day to disperse the agitating crowd that had assembled outside Sardar Bagh area. Protesters defied section 144 and gathered in the area multiple times and then dispersed into lanes every time police used force.

Nauman Mansoor, 29, from Saraspur area of Ahmedabad received head injuries, when according to him, a stone hit his forehead when he was trying to board a state transport bus at Lal Darwaza. Police then blocked the Lal Darwaza intersection for over an hour to avoid traffic and manage the crowd.

“A total of 50 persons have been detained from Lal Darwaza as no permission was given for protest. We spoke to the agitators and the situation is under control now,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

“I appeal to the people to maintain peace and make this a successful bandh in a peaceful manner and stay away from violence,” said Shamshad Pathan, advocate and convener of Alpasankhyank Adhikar Manch.

At Jhansi ki Rani statue in Nehrunagar, several artists, thinkers, activists and students assembled to protest against the CAA and NRC, after which they were detained by the police and taken to satellite police station.

Chanting slogans of ‘Azadi’, the protesters condemned the CAA and NRC, demanding its roll back. Among those detained from Nehru Nagar were Father Cedric Prakash, a human rights activist; Swati Joshi (75), daughter of legendary Gujarati poet Umashankar Joshi; Rajoo Barot, theatre activist; Neeta Vidrohi, Mudita Vidrohi, Amrish Patel and Nirjhari Sinha from the Jan Sangharsh Manch; and MLA Jignesh Mevani.

“Those who have come here, have not come to seek votes but to protest in a democratic manner. The manner in which police detained Ramchandra Guha in Bangalore and resorted to lathicharge in Ahmedabad are condemnable,” said Mewani, moments before he was picked up by police.

A number of markets in old city Ahmedabad remained close due to the bandh call by various groups. Markets in areas such as Lal Darwaza, Jamalpur, Gomtinagar, Kalupur, Teen Darwaza observed complete shutdown on Thursday.

“The CAA is unconstitutional and discriminatory and it only serves the purpose of dividing this beautiful country of ours. As a show of support, we have observed complete shutdown in the market today,” said Shah Gurez Pathan, owner of bakery in Lal Darwaza market.

However, markets in other areas such as Navrangpura, Vastrapur, Memnagar, Satellite and Bodakdev remained open as usual. “All the shops are open here and there is no shutdown. Nothing has come up till now, its just like a regular day,” said Rajnikant Shah, owner of Gopi Enterprise near Memnagar BRTS station.

Parts of old Vadodara city also remained closed following the bandh call, as the city saw heavy police deployment and a flag march was conducted in the old city areas that are communally sensitive by the police.

Shops in the old city area, including Yakutpura, Fatehpura, Hathikhana and Panigate, remained shut throughout the day even as traffic was unaffected. Senior police officers, including the Commissioner of Police, Vadodara City, Anupamsinh Gahlaut, were present in the old city area and camped at the Fatehpura crossroads till late in the evening to monitor the situation.

The senior officers also met religious leaders and other prominent citizens. “We held meetings with leaders and learned men from these areas and spoke at length to stay away from any kind of misinformation being spread or rumours being circulated through social media,” Gahlaut added.

However, no permission was granted by the police to conduct any protest or support rally for CAA in the city. “We are denying permission for any kind of rallies, be it in support of the Act or against… Section 144 remains imposed in the city and a fresh notification is issued every 15 days. The last notification was renewed and issued last week,” Gahlaut said.

“In the last couple of days there have been small scale demonstrations… we peacefully asked the crowd to disperse and they did so. If any demonstrations are held without police permission, action will be taken,” Gahlaut added.

On Thursday morning, a couple of two-wheelers were found with anti-CAA stickers in the old city area and were removed by the police. “We found such vehicles with the stickers but we immediately contacted the owner and asked them to take them down. We did not detain or arrest anyone,” he said.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner Arjav Shah from AMC told this paper that one AMTS bus plying on the Dinbhai Tower route near Lal Darwaza was damaged in stone-pelting. “In the case of another bus plying along the Sarkhej route, some liquid was thrown at it, which we suspect to be inflammable, but nothing happened. Both routes have been diverted now”.

A nearly 4-km stretch of BRTS route from Ajit Mill to Sarangpur, was suspended around 5.30 pm as protests in Shah e Alam and Rakhial areas got violent. “Due to protest around the Rakhial area, we diverted the route as a precautionary step,” said Vishal Khanama, general manager of Janmarg that operates BRTS.