New Delhi bloody protests amid Trump’s first visit to India
Violent clashes have broken out in the Indian capital of New Delhi as protesters voice anger at a much controversial citizenship law just hours ahead of US President Donald Trump’s first visit to the country.
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Police fired tear gas and used smoke grenades to separate the rival protesters who were hurling rocks at each other in New Delhi on Monday.
Nearly 150 people were also injured.
“Some of the people brought in had gunshot wounds,” Rajesh Kalra, a medical official at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, told Reuters on Tuesday.
It was not clear who fired the shots. Police said an officer was among those killed in the clashes.
The protests came hours before Trump’s maiden visit to New Delhi, where he was scheduled to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday at a venue located a few miles away from where the clashes took place.
There were reports of new clashes in the city on Tuesday, with schools remaining shut in some areas, and at least five metro stations were closed.
India has been engulfed by protests since early December last year, when the country’s parliament passed the citizenship act, which is seen as discriminatory toward Muslims. Under the law, migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan will be allowed to claim Indian citizenship — but not if they are Muslims.