The internet shutdown amid increasing protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA has been widened to several other towns in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka after three persons died and many were injured as protests swept at least 10 states on Thursday. The snapping of the internet has led to a communication clampdown in many cities including Lucknow.
Mobile internet services have been suspended in the violence-hit Mangaluru in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district for 48 hours from Thursday night after two persons died in police firing and 20 policemen were injured. A curfew has been declared in Mangaluru till Sunday night. On Thursday, the police opened fire as the protesters and police clashed.
The declaration to halt the internet in Mangaluru from 10 pm last night was exercised to stop ill-usage of social media platforms and for managing the law-and-order situation, according to a report. Schools and colleges in the coastal city are shut.
Mobile internet and SMS services have been suspended in several parts of Uttar Pradesh, including the capital city of Lucknow after violence took place in parts of the state on Thursday during protests against the new citizenship law.
Violent clashes took place in the state where prohibitory orders banning large gatherings across the state were announced by the state authorities.
The police used batons to quell protests at the protest site in Lucknow, where nearly 10 vehicles were set ablaze, and in the walled city. A bus was burned at Sambhal. A protest also took place in Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Apart from Lucknow, the cities facing internet shutdowns are Ghaziabad near Delhi, Pilibhit, Sambhal, Bareilly, and Meerut. In Lucknow, the internet will remain suspended till Saturday noon.
All private telecom operators have also shut down their service after the government order. The shutdown in the other parts of the state will continue till December 21 midnight, Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avanish Awasthi said.
Voice, internet and SMS services were temporarily snapped in parts of Delhi on Thursday as people defied the ban on large gatherings and came out on the streets in hundreds in protest.
The internet ban in Assam, which was the epicenter of the citizenship act protests, has been lifted after ten days. The high court had on Thursday ordered that the ban be lifted.
