After five deaths, anger, unsteady calm in Meerut // Kanpur remains on edge, death toll in UP reaches 17, internet suspension extended

By Dilip -
NB: This is the tragedy unfolding before us, young people being gunned down by a ruthless,  brutal and communalised administration. I grieve for the lost lives. Rest in peace young ones. May God be with you. DS

As the evening sun went down, the body of Areef was lowered into a grave in the Ahmednagar area. Nearby was an empty grave, waiting for its occupant, who, the locals said, had also been killed in police firing during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in the city on Friday. His body, they said, was being brought in. As hundreds of locals walked down the narrow lanes of the neighbourhood to bury their youth, the mood was taut.

Kanpur remains on edge, death toll in UP reaches 17, internet suspension extended
'It’s the magnitude of torture, we were subjected to. The police attacked our children who were protesting peacefully and opened fire from the front. It was a second Jalianwala Bagh massacre. In no time 11 people were shot,' said a shopkeeper and eyewitness.
In Post-NRC Assam, Police Brutality Is The New Normal

Police confirmed that five people had been killed in the violence that erupted on Friday afternoon — apart from Areef, in his early 20s, were 33-year-old Zaheer, 30-year-old Asif and 28-year-old Mohsin, all local youths, and Asif, a 20-year-old resident of Jhilmil Colony in Delhi. Though both police and residents blamed each other for starting the violence, the protesters said no shots were fired from their side, a claim the police contests.
At a spot near what is locally called Tiranga Chowk, in front of the City Hospital, the earth was ashen, a reminder of the previous day’s violence. Opposite is a lane that leads to a mosque. Locals there told The Indian Express that this was where the police opened fire on the youth who had come to participate in a rally. Mohammad Salim Ansari, a 57-year old local, said several people from different parts of the city had congregated in the area for the rally, which proceeded to the Gola Kuan Suit Market. It was on the way back, he claimed, that “members of the RSS started the violence”. He claimed they had come from the neighbouring Hindu localities and “were wearing jeans and had pistols in their hands”.

Ansari asserted that the protesters did not fire any shots, a claim that was supported by about a dozen men standing near him. The men said they want peace and accused the government of trying to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims. Gajender, standing in the crowd, said, “Yeh Hindu-Muslim karwana chahte hain.”...
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/anti-citizenship-amendment-act-protests-caa-nrc-meerut-6179045/

 see also
Deb Mukharji: CAA-NRC: Lessons from the Assam experience
Jab Hindu Muslim raazi / to kya karega Nazi
The split wide open: India is at risk of alienating allies by citizenship programme
‘Am glad I went’: Ramachandra Guha explains why he joined CAA protests
Pratap Bhanu Mehta: Discrimination, not justice: Hope this generation does a better job of navigating the struggle than the one that came before
Advice to the Young
Naxalites should lay down their arms and challenge the ruling class to abide by the Constitution
Jairus Banaji on the history of Indian capitalists; and the BJP's ongoing assault on basic human rights

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