- Title: India prepares for New Year's Eve with fresh protests against citizenship law
- Date: 31st December 2019
- Summary: CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, INDIA (DECEMBER 31, 2019) (ANI - NO USE INDIA) VARIOUS OF MUSLIMS JOINED WITH OTHER PROTESTERS MARCHING WHILE SLOGANEERING AND WAVING FLAGS OF INDIA AND PLACARDS WOMEN WEARING 'BURKHA' SLOGANEERING AND WAVING FLAGS OF INDIA VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS GATHERED WITH FLAGS AND PLACARDS VARIOUS OF WOMEN MAKING MURALS IN PROTEST AGAINST CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT (CAA) VARIOUS OF WOMEN SLOGANEERING WOMEN BEING DETAINED BY POLICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) STATE PRESIDENT, INDIAN NATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, BABRA TAYYIB ALI, SAYING: "Our Tamil Nadu police is the best in the whole world. I support them. In this case, they had no choice but to use light lady force to push them back into quarters (after they threw slurs at the police)." VADODARA, GUJARAT, INDIA (DECEMBER 31, 2019) (ANI - NO USE INDIA) BODY PAINTING ARTIST POSING WITH WOMEN, SUPPORTERS OF CAA VARIOUS OF BODY PAINTINGS ARTIST PAINTING "#INDIA SUPPORTS CAA" ON THE BACK OF A WOMAN THE WOMAN POSING THE ARTIST PAINTING ON THE WOMAN CLOSE OF THE BODY PAINTING WITH INDIA'S NATIONAL FLAG'S COLOURS "I SUPPORT CAA" PAINTED ON THE CHEEKS OF ANOTHER WOMAN (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) A VADODARA RESIDENT, NEKVI PATEL, SAYING: "There have been some good things in the year 2019. For example, the Citizenship Amendment Act was a good thing. I have a wish that in the coming year 2020 that everyone accepts and embrace this act, instead of rioting. It's not for discrimination." NEW DELHI, INDIA (DECEMBER 31, 2019) (ANI - NO USE INDIA) WALL-ART BANNER OUTSIDE JAMIA MILIA ISLAMIA AMID OTHER POSTERS, DEPICTING A HIJAB-WEARING WOMAN SCREAMING/ OTHER POSTERS OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSITY A POSTER READING (English): "STAND WITH JAMIA"/ OTHER POSTERS PROTESTERS SEATED IN FRONT OF A HUGE BANNER READING THE PREAMBLE OF THE INDIAN CONSTITUTION PROTESTERS SEATED POSTERS AT THE UNIVERSITY GATE PROTESTERS STANDING
- Embargoed: 14th January 2020 15:17
- Keywords: CAA Chennai Citizenship Amendment Act India Muslims NRC Narendra Modi National Register of Citizens New Delhi Vadodara
- Location: NEW DELHI/ CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU/ VADODARA, GUJARAT, INDIA
- City: NEW DELHI/ CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU/ VADODARA, GUJARAT, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001BCB2FYN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thousands of Indians are set to ring in the New Year by continuing protests against a citizenship law, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's attempts to dampen demonstrations that have run for nearly three weeks.
India has been rocked by the protests since Dec. 12, when the government passed legislation easing the way for non-Muslim minorities from the neighboring Muslim-majority nations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to gain Indian citizenship.
Combined with opposition to a proposed national register of citizens, many Indians fear the move will discriminate against the minority Muslim community and chip away at the country's secular constitution.
Muslims in Chennai held a protest march where they sloganeered and waved flags and banners calling the law anti-minority. Some women in the city, who were protesting against CAA-NRC by drawing murals, were detained by the police after they threw slurs at the security personnel.
However, now all was on the negative side of the ruling as some women in India's western Vadodara city in Modi's home state of Gujarat showed their support to the CAA by painting their bodies.
Initially caught off guard by the scale of the protests, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has scrambled to douse public anger, with Modi declaring that there had been no discussions on the NRC, contradicting party colleagues.
The BJP has also launched an effort, backed by a social media campaign, to explain that the CAA is not discriminatory and is needed to help non-Muslim minorities persecuted in the three neighboring countries. - Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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