The fire of Anti-citizenship act protests reaches Bengal, UP

Violent
protests against the newly-enacted citizenship law spread to West Bengal and
Uttar Pradesh on Friday, with troublemakers resorting to firebombing and stone
pelting in several areas.

In West
Bengal, Kolkata witnessed snap demonstration at several places, bringing
traffic to a standstill, while mass protest rallies were carried out in
Muslim-dominated districts of rural Howrah, Murshidabad, Birbhum, parts of
Burdwan and North Bengal.

 In Murshidabad district, bordering Bangladesh,
protesters set the Beldanga railway station complex ablaze and thrashed railway
security personnel deputed there.

Protesters
also pelted stones at trains at Uluberia and Chengail in Howrah, injuring two drivers
and an RPF personnel. Additional police forces were rushed to the troubled
spots.

 “Several parts of the station, RPF kiosks were
set on fire and the tracks vandalised. Services have come to a halt here,” senior
RPF official said.

Chief
minister Mamata Banerjee called an emergency meeting at the State Secretariat.
“The situation is under control,” said Gyanwant Singh, additional director
general of police (law and order).

In
Raghunathganj area of Murshidabad, the agitators set vehicles on fire and tore
copies of the amended Act. They blocked National Highway-34 and ransacked
vehicles and nearby shops. Several people were injured when their vehicles were
pelted with stones.

The district
administration has blocked internet services in Aligarh district since midnight
in view of the protests.

In Bareilly,
shops remained closed in Old City areas as thousands of activists of
Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)
and Musalman-e-Bareilly held a demonstration in various parts of the city.

They were, however, prevented from taking out a march by the district administration.