Citizenship Act protests: Three dead and thousands held in India

Three people have died in India and thousands have been detained amid demonstrations against a controversial new citizenship law.

A protest ban has been imposed in parts of the capital Delhi and throughout the states of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

The new law offers citizenship to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Critics fear the law undermines India's secular constitution, and say faith should not be the basis of citizenship.

But Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dismissed their concerns, and said the opposition had been spreading lies.

There have been days of protests against the law. India's home minister has called a crisis meeting to discuss the demonstrations.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in cities across the country on Thursday, despite the police order based on a severely restrictive law which prohibits more than four people from gathering in a place.

Two people died in the city of Mangalore after officers opened fire on demonstrators allegedly trying to set fire to a police station.

Commissioner Dr PS Harsha told reporters that a curfew is in place in the city, and that he was waiting for a post mortem before announcing the cause of death for either man. Internet services have also been suspended in Mangalore for 48 hours.

Another man also died in the city of Lucknow, where violent clashes between demonstrators and police earlier in the day saw vehicles set alight. More than a dozen officers were injured and 112 people were reportedly detained in the city.

Source: BBC

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