UP: Women anti-CAA protesters stage road blockade

KANPUR: Two days after women anti-CAA protesters called off their sit-in dharna and vacated Mohammad Ali Park in Chamanganj area of the UP's Kanpur, scores of women protesters on Monday once again assembled close to the same place and staged a road blockade and demanded that they be allowed to demonstrate inside it to raise their voices against CAA and NRC.
The women protesters, on a Shaheen Bagh type of sit-in, have been demanding the rollback of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Mohammad Ali Park in Chamanganj and Tikuniya Park in Babupurwa areas
of the City, since January 7 and January 19 respectively.
The protesters at both the sites, however, had called off their sit-in dharna after submitting a memorandum to the district and police authorities on Saturday.
The district and police officials had told them that they have instructions not to allow people to stage protests there owing to the prohibitory orders.
However, on Monday morning, as soon as the information about the huge assembly of women protesters near the Mohammad Ali Park went viral on social media, senior district and police officials along with heavy
police force rushed to the spot and appealed to the protesters to clear the road, but the talks failed as they refused to relent.
The women protesters, staging a road blockade, meanwhile, have alleged that district administration and police done this to prevent people from voicing their opinion against CAA and NRC.
They stated that CAA discriminates on the basis of religion and violates the Constitution.
DIG Anant Deo, however, claimed that protest by women against the amended citizenship law indicated the involvement of outsiders. “We will investigate and locate the main conspirators.”
Scores of people had protested against the CAA in Babupurwa and Yateemkhana areas, demanding that it should be revoked on the concern that it makes religion a criterion for granting citizenship, which in turns, violates the spirit of the Indian Constitution. Nearly, three people had died and ten others were
injured during the violent protest on December 20 and 21 in 2019.