CAA Protest Violence: Schools in Jamia and surrounding areas to remain shut on Monday

NEW DELHI: All government and private schools in four areas of south-east school district of Delhi will remain shut on Monday, December 16.

The south-east district's Okhla, New Friends Colony, Jamia Nagar and Madanpur Khadar areas saw intense protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, passed by the Narendra Modi government last week.

The students of Jamia Millia Islamia University have been protesting for days. On Sunday, they were joined by others from the areas around the university and in the evening, a section of the protesters allegedly turned violent. Several buses were burnt.

The students, however, have denied being involved in the violence and have condemned it.

They said in a statement: "The students of Jamia Millia Islamia disassociate themselves from the violence that has erupted today. We have time and again maintained that our protests are peaceful and non-violent. We stand by this approach and condemn any party involved in the violence. We have maintained calm even when students have been lathi-charged and some women protestors have been badly beaten up. Media personnel are a witness to these events. Violence by certain elements is an attempt to vilify and discredit genuine protests."

The Delhi Police, on its part baton-charged protesters and shot tear gas shells at them. Students shared videos of chaos inside the Central Library and of residential areas. Students of other universities decided on an "emergency protest" at the Police Headquarters at ITO in central Delhi. The Delhi Metro shut stations near Jamia Millia Islamia before 6 pm, and later those near Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the Indian Institute of Technology were also shut to prevent the movement of students.

Waseem Ahmed Khan, Chief Proctor, Jamia Millia Islamia University told Asian News International that "Police entered the campus by force, no permission was given. Our staff and students are being beaten up and forced to leave the campus".

Delhi's deputy chief minster and education minister Manish Sisodia announced the decision to keep schools closed on Twitter and said it was taken in response to the "current situation" .

Correction: A previous version had 'CCA' in the headline instead of 'CAA'

Write to us at news@careers360