#ChennaiShaheenBagh: Anti-CAA protests erupt across Tamil Nadu after police brutality against protesters in Chennai

Spontaneous protests erupted across Tamil Nadu on Friday night condemning the police brutality against protesters who had been demonstrating against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Washermanpet area in Chennai. 

Tiruppur, Vellore, Batlangundu, Tiruchy, Coimbatore, Tenkasi, Nagercoil, Madurai, Pudukottai, Ooty, Tanjore, Cuddalore, Kanyakumari, and many parts of Chennai witnessed midnight protests demanding the immediate release of people who were detained by the police from Washermanpet area.

What happened in Washermanpet:

After the Friday afternoon prayers at a local mosque, a few hundred people gathered on a road near the Old Washermanpet area to protest against the CAA, NRC, and NPR. As the news of the protest began to spread, more and more people, both men and women alike, joined the protest site. By the evening the numbers increased from a few hundred to a few thousand. The Chennai Police started to deploy more police personnel in the area and asked the protesters to disperse. The protesters refused to do so. The situation escalated after some protesters were reportedly forcibly removed from the protest site, leading to an altercation between them and the police. 

Police brutality:

The police, in an unprovoked move, started to remove the protesters forcefully from the protest site at around 7. 30 pm. In a video taken at around 8 pm, dozens of policemen can be seen dragging protesters away from the protest site forcefully. They can be seen manhandling, kicking, slapping, and forcefully evicting protesters.  

The News Minute reported a woman protester recalling how the women detainees were severely “wounded from being manhandled” and the police had threatened to remand them at the Trichy jail. 

The police said four cops, including a woman deputy commissioner, two women personnel, and a sub-inspector were injured in stone-pelting.

Chennai Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan held talks with Muslim groups in Washermanpet. Some of the protesters who were detained during the anti-CAA and NRC protests have now been released.

Many Muslim organisations and opposition political parties have condemned the Friday violence against peaceful protesters.