In Tamilnadu, Chennai’s Old Washermenpet area protested well into the night, raising slogans against police brutality on protesters who had staged a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Condemning the lathi charge at protesters who had gathered there earlier in the day, thousands of Muslim men and women also demanded that those arrested should be released.
“Are we disturbing the public? Are we creating any trouble? Then why is the police beating us up? Several people have been injured. They have taken our boys somewhere as well,” Fathima, one of the women protesters who was present during the police clampdown told TNM.
A protest leader claimed that a 70-year-old man collapsed and died in the stampede-like situation created following the police action. “A 70-year old man from Sajja Munusamy street got trapped in the crowd, collapsed and died,” they said. “We have come to know that he was in the hospital and had returned home only a day before.”
Youth Congress Tamilnadu state president JM Hassan Moulana also claimed that the protester died of stampede.
On Friday night, Chennai Police has brutally lathi-charged the protesters who had been demonstrating against the CAA at Washermanpet in Chennai.
Thousands had gathered in protest against the CAA, NRC, and NPR. The situation escalated after some protesters were forcibly removed from the protest site, leading to a commotion between them and the police.
The police lathi-charged the protesters to remove them and clear the area when the demonstrators did not budge.
The police lathi-charged the protesters to remove them and clear the area when the demonstrators did not budge. Many including older women were brutally beaten up in police action.
More than hundred protesters were detained. Subsequently, more people gathered there demanding their release.
Many were injured, some were brutally beaten up,” said an eyewitness according to The Indian Express.
DMK President MK Stalin, in a tweet, condemned the police action. He claimed the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government in Tamil Nadu was running an anarchy that beats up people who fight for democracy.
