How violence spread in Delhi as cops failed to stem riot

NEW DELHI: Though early on Tuesday, police forced back pro-CAA protesters from the temple on the main Maujpur-Jafrabad Road — the epicentre of the violence that has now engulfed entire northeast Delhi — the violence shifted to the inner lanes and across the Shahdara drain dividing the region both geographically and demographically.
The situation remained tense through the day, with the confrontationists pelting stones at each other as early as 8am near the Maujpur-Babarpur metro station.
When TOI reached the spot, it saw cops under attack from stone throwers on the rooftops in Kabir Nagar. While the bridge there was a no-man’s land, there were plumes of smoke above the houses on the inner lanes.

TOI heard regular gunshots being fired. Dipak, his forehead bearing a vermillion tilak, had an injured hand wrapped up in a handkerchief. “They are shooting at us from the rooftops. Four people have been injured,” he claimed. Shantanu Mittal, who resides next to the metro station, was recording the scene from the terrace when the mob banged on his door. “I was scared and deleted all the videos,” he said.

TOI saw another group preparing petrol bombs. They also used slings to attack those on the roofs. Journalists were warned not to film the scenes, and there was no security from the grossly inadequate police presence. Around 1.45pm, joint commissioner Alok Kumar arrived with four buses of personnel. Half an hour later, security personnel fired teargas shells at the pro-CAA protesters to push them back and relative calm prevailed for almost an hour.
The road from Shani temple going to Ghonda was black with the ashes of goods looted from shops. Identifying himself as Gupta, one footwear seller, muttered, “They mistook my shop as belonging to the other community. I had only taken this on rent recently.” TOI saw elderly women guarding the shops while urging stick-wielding youngsters to spare them. “If we go away, we will lose our life savings,” remarked one of them.
The rioters were targeting CCTV cameras to evade identification later. The owner of Shubham Collection store pleaded with them not to touch the shop as it belonged to “someone like you”. He, his wife and son chanted “Jai Shri Ram” to prove their credentials, but the cameras were nevertheless pulled down.
Back near the temple, BJP functionary Jai Bhagwan Goyal arrived to placate the crowd. “People from the other community want to show us in poor light during President Trump’s visit. So let us have peace,” he implored, but the mob taunted him to come back and say such things when the other community was on the attack.
Around 3.30pm Rapid Action Force contingents came, and used teargas to disperse the mob. A flag march from Kardampuri to Jafrabad followed amid reports of a quick-response team van set alight in Jafrabad. TOI also saw a Gramin Sewa vehicle and several motorcycles burning on the 100ft Road near Chhajupur.
A senior police officer disclosed late at night that the arterial road, including the sit-in site of women at Jafrabad metro station, had been cleared and Section 144 of CrPC imposed in the area.