Jamia protest leave behind bikes, stones, shoes, panic

Unclaimed motorcycles, shards of broken window glasses, stones and footwear littered the roads near south Delhi's Jamia university, which resembled a battle zone, after a protest against the amended citizenship law on Sunday afternoon turned violent.

Most residents were busy with their routine work, when unexpectedly they were caught in the middle of the agitation. The protesters indulged in arson, set on fire public and private vehicles and threw stones on police personnel, triggering a fierce clash between them on the streets.

Police had to resort to firing teargas shells and later they entered the university campus in search of those who might have sneaked there, leading to panic among the residents.

Till late evening, Jamia Nagar resonated with loud bangs of teargas shells fired by police to push back the stone-pelting mob.

When police said the situation was under control, tension still prevailed.

Police officials talked with locals and appealed them to maintain calm. Traffic on the roads slowly resumed around 10 pm.

Markets and shops including those near the campus — such as Batla House, Okhla Head and Shaheen Bagh — were shut and people preferred to stay indoors.

"I was going along with my friends to watch a movie when the stone-pelting and violence began around 4pm," said Fakharuddin, an engineer, who lives in Jamia Nagar.

He said he and his friends ran for cover, leaving behind their motorcycles.

They were waiting to pick up their bikes till late night.

Naved, a Daryaganj resident, said he was visiting his relatives in Batla House following a death in the family where a death occurred and was stranded due to violence.

"I came here around noon with my mother and now we are stuck. I don't know how will I go back home," he said.

Many residents said the protest against the amended Citizenship Act was going on peacefully and "some outsiders" may have resorted to violence and arson.

Scores of bikes were left unclaimed on the road in front of Jamia university campus.

The Mathura Road from Ashram to New Friends Colony, Mata Mandir road and the road leading to Jamia university bore the brunt of the rampaging mob, which torched and damaged several public transport buses and two wheelers.