From Lucknow to Hyderabad, Students Across The Country Unite Against Jamia Crackdown By Police

The crackdown on students by Delhi Police following widespread violence that was reported during the demonstrations against the controversial Citizenship Law has now rippled through the country with massive demonstrations ongoing in several campuses even as this report is being written.

The morning after violence broke out in the national capital following protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act, hundreds of students took to the streets demanding a probe into the usage of teargas inside the Jamia library as well as police entering the campus without permission from the varsity authorities.

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Several Delhi University students have boycotted exams to express their solidarity. They say they will gather at India Gate on Monday evening and express their solidarity with the student fraternity.

At ground zero of the student movement, a group of Jamia students stood shirtless in the bone-chilling cold of a Delhi morning to protest the action against their colleagues on Sunday.

Loud slogans of "inquilab zindabad" were heard as students carried posters and photographs of Mahatma Gandhi and Bhim Rao Ambedkar. A CBI inquiry into the "police brutality" has been demanded.

As a few women escorted an injured student to narrate their ordeal to the media, news agency PTI reported that some people were seen asking them not to give any statements.

reuters/representational image

"We were inside the university when the police barged in. Around 20 policemen came from gate no 7 and 50 others came from the rear gate. We told them we were not involved in the violence. They didn't listen. They didn't even spare women," Khanzala, who suffered injuries to his legs and abdomen, said.

A woman broke down as Khanzala showed his injuries to the media.

Fifty detained Jamia students were released early on Monday morning but tension continued in the Jamia campus.

In Lucknow's Nadwa College, students gathered in hundreds shouting slogans like "Awaz do, hum ek hain" (call us we are all united) as police tried to control the situation.

After Jamia, AMU, Nadwa college in Lucknow, police now cracks down on Delhi University. They are hauling up students at Arts Faculty, Delhi University. The students are protesting against #CitizenshipAmendmentAct and standing in solidarity with #Jamia. pic.twitter.com/V5dC47l0uw

¡ª Neha Dixit (@nehadixit123) December 16, 2019

"Some students of the Nadwatul Ulama here tried to protest and hurled stones from inside. They were prevented and no one is allowed to come outside the campus," Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police O P Singh was quoted as saying by PTI.

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In Hyderabad's Maulana Azad Urdu University, students held a protest march post-midnight in solidarity with the Jamia students and demanded that their exams be postponed. There were angry demonstrations at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi and at the Jadavpur University in Kolkata with demands that the government take action against police "hooliganism".

Students of Hyderabad's Maulana Azad National Urdu University protest against Delhi police crackdown on Jamia students.#Delhi #JamiaMillia #DelhiProtest #CitizenshipAct #Hyderabad pic.twitter.com/DxK6xmTMyk

¡ª NDTV (@ndtv) December 15, 2019

"Crackdown is a very small word to be used for what happened in Jamia yesterday. This is clear hooliganism. Videos of policemen smashing bikes and beating students are all over social media. The government must fix accountability for this," a PHD student at BHU was quoted as saying by PTI.

Ridhima Dua, a Jadavpur University student, asked how teargas could be used inside a closed compound.

"If I am molested on a street and go to the police to file a complaint I will be told about norms. Where are the norms now? How can teargas be used inside a closed compound? How can policemen just barge into the university without any permission from vice-chancellor? There has to be a probe in this," she said.

Students from the Tata Insitute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai also protested on the streets shouting slogans such as "Shame on Delhi Police".

The first to join the protest against the violence in Jamia were students from the Aligarh University University (AMU) where there were clashes with the police late night on Sunday.

After the protest, the administration announced the closure of the university till January 5 and students have been asked to evacuate the hostels.

The students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) also joined their compatriots in Jamia outside the police headquarters at Delhi's ITO on Sunday night to protest the alleged police assault on students at the Jamia campus earlier in the day.

The university had turned into a battlefield on Sunday as police entered the campus and also used force, following protest against the Act.