23 dead as protests grow against India citizenship law
Nine people died Saturday during clashes between
demonstrators and police in northern India, raising the nationwide death toll
in protests against a new citizenship law to 23, euronews reported, quoting
police.
Uttar Pradesh state police spokesman Pravin Kumar
said the nine fatalities increased the death toll in the state to 15 in the
protests against the new law, which the demonstrators say discriminates against
Muslims.
The "majority of the dead are young
people," Singh said. "Some of them died of bullet injuries, but these
injuries are not because of police fire. The police have used only tear gas to
scare away the agitating mob."
Around a dozen vehicles were set on fire as
protesters went amok in the northern Indian cities of Rampur, Sambhal,
Muzaffarnagar, Bijnore and Kanpur, where a police station was also torched,
Singh said.
