Karnataka protests turn violent, 2 killed

Mangaluru, Bengaluru: Protests in Karnataka against the Anti - Citizenship Amendment Act claimed its first casualties on Thursday when two men were killed in police firing during a protest march in the heart of the coastal town of Mangaluru turned violent, while the capital Bengaluru saw police clamp down on protesters led by historian and author Ramachandra Guha, who was detained and later released along with several hundred activists and students.

The two dead include Jaleel (49) of Kudroli and Nausheen of Bengre (23) who sustained serious injuries in the police firing, and were rushed to hospital. Both were declared dead an hour later.

Curfew has been clamped across the city, while internet connections will be shut down for 48 hours in Mangaluru city and Dakshin Kannada district, as per orders issued by Dr. Rajnish Goel. Additional Secretary, Home, at the recommendation of Neelamani Raju, DG&IGP who held an emergency meeting with state Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa late on Thursday. The CM appealed for calm and requested police not to resort to firing live bullets against protesters.

In the IT capital Bengaluru, hundreds of students, volunteers and Left party workers defied the prohibitory orders in force in the city and converged on the Puttanachety Town Hall and the Mysore Bank Circle Thursday morning to continue their fifth day of protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by parliament recently.

Around 200 of the protestors , who were joined by prominent  historian, Ramachandra Guha in their “Naavu Bharatiyaru”  and “Hum Bharath ke log” agitation were rounded up by the police and taken away in buses as they refused to disperse.

While Mr Guha was detained as he was talking to the media outside the Town Hall, condemning the Union government for introducing a legislation like the CAA, a large number of volunteers, including teenagers and young women were dragged into buses by the police as they resisted arrest.