- Title: Indian police clear out anti-government protest citing coronavirus
- Date: 24th March 2020
- Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (MARCH 24, 2020) (ANI - NO USE INDIA) SECURITY PERSONNEL STANDING MORE OF SECURITY PERSONNEL STANDING NEAR BROKEN TENT BROKEN TENT SECURITY PERSONNEL ON GUARD PEOPLE WALKING AS POLICEMAN LOOKS ON WORKERS KEEPING BOARD IN TRUCK AS POLICEMEN STAND POLICE OFFICIALS STANDING POLICEMEN AND WORKERS STANDING NEAR TENT CRANE LIFTING FLAG BASE VARIOUS OF PROPERTY REMOVED FROM PROTEST SITE KEPT IN TRUCKS/CRANE DESTROYING PROPERTY/POLICEMEN AND OTHERS WEARING MASKS WALKING FLAG BASE BEING DESTROYED (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) DELHI POLICE JOINT COMMISSIONER, D.C. SRIVASTVA, SAYING: "The environment that is there due to the coronavirus, COVID-19 which is a very dangerous one, so some of the mischievous elements tried to create problems but we detained them and took actions to clear the (protest) site and till now the site cleaning operation is going on peacefully and we hope that we will clear it very soon." SECURITY PERSONNEL AND OTHERS WALKING SECURITY PERSONNEL AND OTHERS STANDING PEOPLE STANDING AND WATCHING POLICEMEN SITTING AS OTHERS STAND PEOPLE, SOME WITH THEIR FACES COVERED, STANDING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE STANDING (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER, SAYING: "Five ladies were sitting there (protest site), nobody else was sitting. They deceived (them) and damaged the protest site because of this the people of Shaheen Bagh are very angry. There is the issue of coronavirus, we are supporting that but the ladies who you (police) have detained, they should be released." VARIOUS OF POLICEMEN AND WORKERS REMOVING TARPAULIN SHEET FROM JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA UNIVERSITY PROTEST SITE SIGNBOARD TARPAULIN SHEET BEING KEPT AREA BEING CLEANED TORN BANNERS, POSTERS AND DAMAGED PROPERTY LYING ON ROAD SECURITY PERSONNEL STANDING DRONE FLYING MAN OPERATING DRONE WORKER CLEANING ROAD POLICEMAN REMOVING BARRICADES VARIOUS OF BARRICADES BEING PULLED BY POLICE VEHICLE
- Embargoed: 7th April 2020 06:28
- Keywords: Citizenship law India New Delhi Shaheen Bagh coronavirus disease health protest
- Location: NEW DELHI, INDIA
- City: NEW DELHI, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C6EUPU7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Police in India's capital broke up the longest-running protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's citizenship law on Tuesday (March 24), citing a ban on public gatherings because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Dozens of people, many of them women, have been staging a sit-in protest since early December on a street in the Shaheen Bagh neighborhood, which has become a focal point for opposition to the law seen as discriminating against Muslims.
Hundreds of police in riot gear surrounded the protesters early on Tuesday and told them to leave, said Delhi's joint police commissioner D. C. Srivastava.
"Till now the site cleaning operation is going on peacefully and we hope that we will clear it very soon," Srivastava said, adding there was no violence.
Police took down tents and billboards at the protest site with bulldozers.
Delhi is under a lockdown until the end of the month to halt the spread of the virus and public gatherings of more than five people have been banned.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, which eases the path for non-Muslims from neighboring Muslim-majority countries to gain citizenship, triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests against Modi's government after it was passed in December.
At least 78 people have been killed in demonstrations triggered by the law across the country, a large number of them in another part of Delhi in clashes between Hindus and Muslims. - Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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