Violence broke out in parts of Ahmedabad on Thursday as hundreds of protesters took to streets, agitating against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), as police resorted to lathicharge and firing tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. Over 100 persons were detained. Two Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) buses were damaged and services of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) were suspended for a few hours in the affected areas. Many parts of old Ahmedabad also remained closed due to a bandh called in protest. CrPC 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 Alam area of Ahmedabad, 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. “Two police officers and 10 police personnel were injured in the stone pelting at Shah Alam on Thursday. We have detained 20 persons from the area but no FIR has been lodged yet. The situation is under control,” said Vishal Patel, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Control), Ahmedabad Police. 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 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. “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 said. However, no permission was granted by the police to conduct any protest or support rally for CAA in the city. “. 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.
