India shuts down internet in hotspot after deadly protests
GUWAHATI, India — Internet access
Protests erupted this week after the government introduced new legislation that many in the far-flung northeast believe will give citizenship to immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, and which other critics say is anti-Muslim.
On Friday morning thousands gathered in central Guwahati as riot police looked on, with residents hurrying out to buy essentials.
No fresh violence
A local government official said that internet access in the Guwahati, the main city of Assam state, had
The Meghalaya state government has also cut off mobile internet, with parts of the capital Shillong brought under curfew since Thursday evening.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was planning to scrap a visit to the city due to begin on Sunday as the security situation deteriorated, media reported Friday.
On Thursday, police had fired live and blank rounds as thousands of demonstrators in Guwahati and elsewhere took to the streets, some vandalising property and torching vehicles.
The two demonstrators killed in the city were among around 20 people being treated in hospital, "a few" of whom had gunshot wounds, said Ramen Talukdar, a doctor at a Guwahati hospital.
Hundreds of passengers stuck at Guwahati airport
Hindu agenda?
Security
"They
"We will defeat the government with the force of the people and
The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), signed into law by the Indian president late Thursday, allows for the fast-tracking of applications from religious minorities from three neighbouring countries, but not Muslims.
For Islamic groups, the opposition and rights groups, it is part of Modi's Hindu nationalist agenda to marginalise India's 200 million Muslims. He denies this.
The US State Department on Thursday urged India to "protect the rights of its religious minorities", according to Bloomberg.
But many in India's northeast object for different reasons, fearing that immigrants from Bangladesh
The chief ministers of the states of Punjab in the north and Kerala in the south also said that they would not implement the law, the Hindu daily reported.
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