Donald Trump’s visit to Delhi has been overshadowed by deadly protests that have continued to engulf India’s capital, as protesters and armed mobs wreaked havoc on the streets and the death toll rose to seven.
Violent clashes between groups of protesters who either supported or were opposed to a new citizenship law left one policeman and six civilians dead on Monday. Police deployed teargas and smoke grenades in an attempt to control the violence.
There were also clashes in Delhi on Monday night between Hindu nationalist and communist groups holding pro- and anti-US demonstrations in response to the arrival of Trump, who is on his first official visit to India.
As the violence continued, Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, held a meeting on Tuesday with the home minister, Amit Shah, local politicians and officials from the violence-hit areas. “I am very worried about the prevailing situation in certain parts of Delhi,” he tweeted, “All of us together should make all efforts to restore peace in our city. I again urge everyone to shun violence.”
A section 144 order, which prevents gatherings of more than four people, was imposed on various areas in the north-east of Delhi where the violence was concentrated and schools in the area have been closed.
Trump met the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on Tuesday afternoon, as the streets of Delhi continued to burn. While US officials have said that Trump will raise issue of religious freedom in his private discussion with Modi in Delhi, in his speech to a rally in Ahmedabad on Monday, Trump lavished praise on Modi for his democratic and tolerant leadership of India.
The arrival of Trump into Delhi on Monday night also sparked unrest. On the pro-US side, Hindu nationalists held a prayer meeting in which they put a vermilion mark on the forehead of Trump in a poster, blessing him, while a priest chanted Hindu hymns wishing Trump success in his endeavour for strong ties with India.
Vishnu Gupta, the president of the rightwing organisation Hindu Sena, said: “Through a fire ritual we are invoking God to bless America and India.’’ He said he wanted Trump and Modi to fight radical Islam and the spread of terrorism.
Elsewhere in Delhi, dozens of supporters of the Communist party of India carried a banner reading: “Trump go back”. Anti-Trump street demonstrations also broke out in the cities of Gauhati in the north-east, Kolkata in the east and Hyderabad in the south.
Source: AFP
