NEW DELHI – A group of Muslim women who formed a barricade around a malestudent being attacked by baton-swinging police have become symbols of theprotests currently gripping India.
In a video that has gone viral, the four young women rush to surround theyoung man as police in riot gear thrash at him with six-foot (two-metre)bamboo sticks known as “lathi”.
They then point their fingers at the officers and shout “police go back, goback” during the incident in New Delhi on Sunday.
The protests, which raged for another day on Tuesday, follow the passing byparliament last week of legislation making it easier for people from threeneighbouring countries to get Indian citizenship.
Excluded though are Muslims, in what Islamic groups, the opposition andrights groups say is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda toremould India as a Hindu nation, something he denies.
The women from Sunday’s incident have since been interviewed by myriadmedia, while the finger-wagging image is being used for protest posters anda Chennai artist’s illustration that has spread widely online.
“We don’t have any fear of this government, the police or anyone,” one ofthe women, history student Ayesha Renna, 22, told an Indian televisionchannel.
Read Top Stories
The clashes on Sunday night, which saw vehicles torched and Delhi securityforces storm a university, have sparked anger about alleged policebrutality, adding fuel to the protests.
“Students have the right to protest. Violence against peacefully protestingstudents cannot under any circumstance be justified,” rights group AmnestyInternational said on Monday.
Jamia Millia Islamia university vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar said Mondaythat 200 people were injured but police put the number at 39 students and30 officers hurt — one of them critically.
Police spokesman MS Randhawa said four buses, 100 private vehicles and 10police bikes were damaged, and that officers exercised “maximum restraint,minimum force” despite being “provoked”. -APP/AFP
