Chennai Police Lathicharge Anti-CAA Agitators, Action Triggers Protests Across State | Watch

The trouble began when the police forcefully evicted some of the protesters, leading to a confrontation between the two sides. The protest was later called off after agitators held talks with Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan.

New Delhi: Huge protests have broken out across Tamil Nadu after Chennai Police last night cracked down on anti-CAA protesters at city’s Washermenpet area. While this protest, which was also against the NRC-NPR, was called off after talks with Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan, the ones triggered by the police crackdown are currently on in different cities across the state.

Chennai: A protest that was held near Mount Road Dargah at Anna Salai, after Police detained protestors demonstrating against #CAA and #NRC in Washermanpet, has been temporarily withdrawn.

— ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2020

Trichy, Coimbatore, Madurai etc. are some cities where protests against the police action, as well as against the CAA-NRC-NPR combine are currently going on.

According to reports, trouble began when the police forcibly removed some protesters from the protest site, prompting commotion between the police and the 1,000-strong group of protesters, of whom nearly 600 were women.

The protesters did not budge from the scene, leading to a lathicharge by the police. While the police action led to injuries to some of the protesters, the protesters themselves are said to have resorted to throwing stones and slippers at the police causing injuries to four police personnel, including a woman deputy commissioner and two women constables.

#WATCH: Scuffle broke out between Police & protestors who were demonstrating against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) at Washermanpet in Chennai, yesterday evening. Over 100 protestors have been detained. #TamilNadu pic.twitter.com/5YpiCN2tgw

— ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2020

The police, however, denied that there was a lathicharge, except in ‘isolated’ cases, and said that ‘mild force’ was used to disperse the protesters. It said that it acted only when the protesters tried to enforce a Shaheen Bagh-like model.

The police also denied reports of deaths of two people, including a 70-year-old-man; the man, however, is said to have died after being caught in a stampede-like situation due to the scuffle between the two sides, though no direct connection has been reported as yet between the police action and his death.