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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Protests rage against citizenship law as US, UK warn on travel to northeast India

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GUWAHATI: Protests against a divisive new citizenship law raged on Saturday as Washington and London issued travel warnings for northeast India following days of violent clashes that have killed two people so far.


Many in the far-flung, resource-rich region fear the new legislation will grant citizenship to large numbers of immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, who they accuse of stealing jobs and diluting the region’s cultural identity.


Hundreds of protesters rallied in the capital New Delhi on Saturday, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to revoke the law that they said would “divide our secular country on religious lines”.


Protests took a violent turn in West Bengal state, where a portion of a railway station complex was set on fire. Burning tyres were thrown on rail tracks and key roads blocked by slogan-chanting protesters.


Tensions simmered in Guwahati in Assam state, the epicentre of the unrest, where medical staff said two people were shot dead and 26 hospitalised late on Thursday after security forces fired live rounds.


Friday’s funeral procession of 18-year-old Sam Stafford, who was killed in the firing, was attended by hundreds of angry and distraught mourners who shouted, “long live Assam”.


“We were watching news all day on TV about the protests when my nephew left home in the evening. We asked him not to go but he went with his friends,” the student’s aunt Julie Stafford said.


Anticipating further unrest, authorities extended an Internet ban across Assam till Monday. Most shops were shut and anxious residents stocked up supplies on Saturday when the curfew was relaxed during the day.


The Citizenship Amendment Act allows for the fast-tracking of applications from religious minorities including Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but not Muslims. — AFP


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