Anti-CAA Protests In Assam: Curfew Relaxed In Guwahati Today; B'desh Cancels Ministers' Trips To India

The curfew has been relaxed from 9 am to 4pm, a police spokesperson said. Police are using loudspeakers to inform the public about the relaxation, he added.

The curfew imposed in the wake of the protest over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, has been relaxed on Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm by the administration. (PTI)

Guwahati: The curfew imposed in the wake of the protest over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, has been relaxed on Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm by the administration. A police spokesperson said that the cops are using loudspeakers to inform the public about the relaxation. Meanwhile, against the backdrop of violent protests over the adoptation of the citizenship amendment bill by the Indian parliament, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal Thursday cancelled their scheduled trip to India. Soon after the curfew was relaxed, long queues were seen outside shops at several places, including Dispur, Uzan Bazar, Chandmari, Silpukhuri and Zoo Road. Auto-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws were also plying across the city. However, buses were off roads. Petrol pumps in the city have also opened with vehicles waiting in lines to refuel. Schools and offices, however, remained shut. The protests broke out in Guwahati and other parts of Assam following the passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 in Parliament on Wednesday, and it becoming an Act thereupon after the Presidential assent. As many as 26 Army columns have been deployed in Assam to assist the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to handle the situation. On Thursday, two people have died in protests against the Act while the suspension of mobile Internet services was extended for another 48 hours in 10 districts of Assam. Earlier, the administration had suspended mobile Internet services for 24 hours on Wednesday in 10 districts of the state -- Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Kamrup (metro) and Kamrup. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Zoroastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. (with inputs from agencies)