Following Saturday’s firing incident near the ongoing anti-CAA protests in Shaheen Bagh, volunteers and protesters raised questions over the role of the authorities in ensuring the safety of citizens.
The incident at Shaheen Bagh comes just two days after a young man shot a anti-CAA protester near Jamia Millia Islamia, in the presence of police.
An eyewitness to Saturday’s incident, Mehraj Khan, said: “Two men arrived in a car. They walked to the first barricade at the protest site. Soon, one of them fired in the air in close proximity to the protesters. The police took away the man in a private car and not a PCR van.”
“Both the Jamia incident and the firing at Shaheen Bagh took place in front of the police. What is the administration doing? We are in constant discussion with the administration to sort out what is happening.”
Protesters at Shaheen Bagh called for “urgent mobilisation”, especially with the Assembly polls inching closer. “As we approach the Delhi elections on February 8, we request the citizens to join us at Shaheen Bagh on Sunday in solidarity with our cause of defending the Constitution. We are increasingly fearful of the consequences of the politicisation of these peaceful protests and maintain that we are a non-partisan gathering,” read a statement issued by the protesters.
Meanwhile, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union has called for a “Shaheen Bagh Chalo” march on Sunday. “This is the second incident in a disturbing trend of targeting protesters. We appeal to the student community to rally in support of the Shaheen Bagh incident,” it said.
