Prominent Muslims compensate UP government for damages

A Uttar Pradesh government press release says prominent citizens from the Muslim community in Bulandshahr district have handed local authorities six lakh rupees as damages for last week’s violence after Friday prayers. The violence broke out during protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The release also says clerics in Muzaffarnagar district, that also saw violence, have apologised to the local administration.

There are videos and pictures sent by the government that show a group of Muslim men handing over a demand draft to top government officials.

A government vehicle was burnt in Bulandshahr and many vehicles were damaged. The police have named 22 people for the violence and another 800 unnamed people. “The entire community got together and has contributed to the funds. We handed this to the government as a token from the entire community, said Haji Akram Ali, a local councillor.

There have also been many allegations of police vandalism and excesses in dealing with the protests and its aftermath. Videos show UP police vandalising shops and cars in Kanpur. In a video shot with a mobile phone, police personnel can be seen breaking open the shutter of shops and damaging parked vehicles in some areas.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has justified his government’s crackdown on protests, saying that the action has shocked every protester into silence. A tweet from his office said:

Every rioter is shocked. Every troublemaker is shocked. Everybody has fallen silent after seeing the strictness of the Yogi Adityanath government. The Chief Minister has announced that anybody who damages public property will have to pay up. Every violent protester will cry now because there is a Yogi government in Uttar Pradesh”.

The tweet was hashtagged #TheGreat_CMYogi.