Anti-Citizenship Act protests Death toll stands at 19, internet suspended in 21 UP districts

MEERUT, Dec 27
Security was mounted and patrolling intensified in sensitive areas across the State of Uttar Pradesh to ensure peace during Friday prayers in view of wide-spread violence by those protesting against the Citizenship Act.
3,500 personnel of central paramilitary forces and 12,000 jawans of the UP provincial armed constabulary (PAC) are on the job to maintain peace, UP DGP OP Singh said.
As a precautionary measure, Internet services that were resumed after nearly a week, were suspended ag-ain in Ghaziabad, Buland- shahr, Meerut, Muzaffar-nagar and Shamli.
In Agra, the services will remain suspended till Friday evening, a senior police official said.
Internet services will be suspended in 21 of the 75 districts, the DGP said.
To avoid a repeat of last Friday's violence in Gorakh-pur, police staged a flag march in sensitive areas and held a meeting with peace committees in all circle and police station areas.
Paramilitary force personnel and State police force have been deployed, and drone cameras are being used to ensure security on Friday, Gorakhpur District Magistrate Vijyendra Pandiyan said.
Meanwhile, the process to confiscate the property of those involved in damaging public assets during the protests gained momentum as 372 people were served notices in different districts.
Over 1,110 people have been arrested and 5,558 were taken into preventive custody in connection with violence during the anti-CAA protests across the state in which 19 people have lost their lives.
Over 327 FIRs have been registered in connection with the violent protests. At least 288 policemen were injured and 61 of them had received bullet injuries during the protests, the police have said.
A total of 327 FIRs have been registered and 5,558 preventive arrests made.
Additional Director General (ADG) Prashant Kumar on Thursday said that 317 people have been arrested and 79 cases registered in connection with the violence during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in Meerut.
"79 cases have been registered and 317 were arres- ted. 108 police personnel are injured in which 10 sustained firearm injuries. Ten administration officials and 7 people including some journalists also sustained injuries. Five people lost their lives in the violence," Kumar told ANI.
"The administration is educating people on CAA and we are also monitoring social media."
On the arrest of two people from Meerut Nauchangi area, Kumar said: "Two men of Popular Front of India's wing SDPI were arrested. One of them is the state chief of the organisation. We have found some objectionable literature from them".
"In Shamli, some people from this organisation were arrested earlier. The police had also recovered such literature from their office in Meerut. We are investigating the organisation's role," he said.
Mobile Internet services and SMS messages of all mobile service providers except BSNL remained suspended in Lucknow on December 27.
The announcement was made in a notification dated December 26 and undersigned by Additional Chief Secretary, Awanish Kumar Awasthi. Furthermore, Internet services will be suspended in several other districts of the state. In Bulandshahar, it will remain suspended till 6:00 am of December 28. In Agra, Internet Services will remain suspended till 6:00 pm today while in Mathura, Sitapur, Muzaffarnagar, Firozabad and Sambhal, it will remain suspended till further orders. It will also remain suspended in Bijnor till the night of December 28.
Meanwhile, the Information & Communication Department of Uttar Pradesh said that 498 people have been identified in connection with the damage caused to public property during recent protests in Lucknow, Meerut, Sambhal, Rampur, Muzaffarnagar, Ferozabad, Kanpur Nagar, Mau and Bulandshahar. Protests have erupted across the country against the Act which grants Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. Agencies