CAA protests: Police detain hundreds of protesters in Bengaluru

BENGALURU police detained hundreds of people including historian Ramachandra Guha who had gathered outside Town Hall in the city to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed NRC, on Thursday morning.

Protesters were detained in the backdrop of CrPC Section 144 imposed across the city to avoid any untoward incidents from taking place. Guha was holding a poster of Mahatma Gandhi and talking to the media about the Indian constitution, when the police detained him.

Protesters who have been detained were sent to police stations in Central Bengaluru. Within minutes of the police dispersing the crowd at the Town Hall, a large number of people gathered in one of the nearby roads shouting anti-CAA slogans.

The BJP-ruled Karnataka government on Wednesday evening clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 in Bengaluru and other parts of the state starting from 6 am on Thursday till the mid-night of December 21. The police said that the decision was taken to ensure that law and order is not disturbed. Several organisations had planned to stage protests in Bengaluru on Thursday and Friday.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday night, city police commissioner Bhaskar Rao had said that more than 80 organisations - both supporting as well as opposing CAA - had asked for police permission to stage protest. Sensing trouble, the police, he said, have decided not to allow people to assemble

Meanwhile, chief minister B S Yediyurappa has blamed the Congress for attempting to create law and order situation in the state.