Dec 16, 2019

India rocked by deadly citizenship protests

Rebecca Falconer

Activists burn an effigy of India's Home Minister Amit Shah during a demonstration against the Indian government's Citizenship Amendment Bill in Siliguri on December 14 — Democratic Youth Federation of India activists in Siliguri burn an effigy of India's Home Minister Amit Shah during a demonstration. Photo: Diptendu Dutta/AFP via Getty Images

More than 100 activists protesting India's citizenship amendment have been wounded in clashes with police near Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, Al Jazeera reports, as deadly demonstrations entered a fifth day Monday.

Details: Per Reuters, police used tear gas and batons on activists to disperse them Sunday. It's one of several protests being held across India against the amendment, which creates a citizenship pathway for Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Parsi and Sikh migrants who fled from Pakistan and Afghanistan before 2015. Muslims are excluded.

Other Indian cities to hold protests Sunday included Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh and Varanasi, broadcaster NDTV reports.
In the city of Guwahati, four people died of gunshot wounds, another was killed when a shop he was asleep in was set on fire, and a sixth person was beaten to death at a protest, according to Al Jazeera.

The big picture: Protesters are concerned the amendment is a step in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to turn the country into a Hindu nationalist state to the exclusion of Muslims.

The other side: Modi insists Muslims are excluded from the amendment because they're "not minorities in India's neighboring countries," CNN notes.

Go deeper: India's citizenship bill continues Modi's Hindu nationalist offensive

Add Axios on Google

India rocked by deadly citizenship protests

What to read next