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New Delhi police set ‘innocent students’ free as protesters besiege station after riots & clashes (VIDEOS)
Indian police have released all students unfairly detained in a raid on Jamia Milia Islamia campus where the officers had rounded up violent mob that torched vehicles and pelted stones at a march over the new citizenship law.
An agitated crowd of protesters gathered outside a police station in the capital New Delhi on Sunday night, demanding that authorities immediately released students of the Muslim university, who had been detained earlier in the day. By roughly 3:30am local time, the crowd gradually dispersed as police said they released everyone.
The university accuses riot police of raiding their campus illegally, using tear gas and brutally abusing their students and staff. More than two dozen people, including several policemen were injured in clashes.
Students insist their protest was non-violent and claim that the police entered the college and indiscriminately fired tear gas. Videos shared on social media show chaos in the university’s buildings, as the sound of smashing glass and what seem to be riot control weapon shots can be heard.
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While technically they should’ve sought university permission first, authorities argue that the officers were actively chasing a violent mob who took refuge on the open-ground campus. “We only acted to control situation after violence,” senior police officer Chinmaya Biswal told ANI.
We have no problem with university students… Our only interest is to push the mob back, so law and order can be restored in the area
The university and students themselves meanwhile blamed all the violence and disorder on unidentified locals who joined the “genuinely peaceful” protest in an attempt to “discredit” it. Earlier in the day, a protest march that started at the university grounds almost immediately turned violent, with mob pelting stones at police and torching at least three busses and dozens of bikes.
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We had to push them back… they started pelting stones and bottles filled with oil…
Authorities admit they can’t definitively say if it was a mob of students or locals who started the violence. “They were being very, very aggressive and violent and they have been pushed to the Jamia Nagar area from where they originated,” explained Biswal, whose force is now being accused of using excessive force as activists online are rallying in solidarity with the ‘peaceful protesters.’
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