20 killed in India violence
More than 150 people have been injured during the three days of violence in Muslim populated areas of northeast Delhi.
Security personnel patrol near burnt-out and damaged residential premises and shops following clashes between people supporting and opposing a contentious amendment to India’s citizenship law, in New Delhi on February 26, 2020. / AFP / Sajjad HUSSAIN
At least 20 people have been killed after India’s capital region was hit by the worst religious violence in decades.
More than 150 people have been injured during the three days of violence in Muslim populated areas of northeast Delhi, with police accused of looking the other way as a mob went on the rampage, killing people and damaging properties, including mosques.
The violence was triggered after weeks-long peaceful sit-ins in the Indian capital against a new citizenship law were attacked by Hindu nationalist mobs.
Muslims, India’s largest minority, say the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed last December discriminates against them and goes against the country’s secular ethos.
Parts of the capital descended into violence on Sunday after a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader warned Muslims against continuing with peaceful sit-ins.
Over the next three days, northeast Delhi’s Karawal Nagar, Seelampur, Maujpur, Bhajanpura, Vijay Park, Jafrabad, Chandbagh and Yamuna Vihar witnessed pitched battles between Hindus and Muslims.
India’s Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hosted US President Donald Trump as the violence continued, has yet to comment on the issue.
On Tuesday night, people from Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi set out in a solidarity march against the violence.
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