CHENNAI: Various activist groups, students, artists, members of public and Muslim outfits in large numbers hit the streets in many parts of the Chennai here on Sunday, taking forward the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act for the 7th consecutive day.
The Masjid Quereshia Jamat organised a massive protest in Chepauk on Sunday morning, in which, about a thousand people including a large number of children and women participated.
The protests at Besant Nagar took a cultural turn with performing artists gathering and staged protests by singing poems and songs. however, they had to shift the venue near the Besant Nagar bus terminus after police asked them to avoid holding protests near the beach.
The protesters urged the Central government to repeal the act and raised placards reading 'Reject CAB, Boycott NRC', 'Together we stand united' and 'No division based on religion'.
While chants such as ‘Hindustan Zindabad’ and ‘Azadi’ hovered in the air, the people waved Indian flags in the protests held at Chepauk and Triplicane. As the crowd kept swelling, one lane of the Wallajah Road was blocked by the protesters for almost three hours. Hundreds of police were deployed on the spot too.
Addressing the group of people, speakers spoke about secularity and the need to 'retrieve democracy from the clutches of Hindutva'. "The fight is not between Hindus and Muslims, but Indians and facism. Citizenship based on religion is undemocratic and against secular principles," said one of the speakers at Chepauk protest.
Meanwhile, on Sunday at 3 pm, in another protest organised by the Alhe Sunnat Jamat, more than thousand people thronged the Triplicane High Road near the Triplicane Wallajah Masjid.
The roads were choked completely and the protesters did a slow march on the road raising similar Anti-CAA slogans and chants. Apart from the people who marched on the ground, various people from their house balconies too peeped out to witness the protests.
Residents of Triplicane and Royapettah gathered in large numbers to show solidarity. All the shops in the streets were temporarily closed and vehicles were blocked around the Triplicane High Road and surrounding streets.
People raised placards which read ‘We are all Indians Citizens’, ‘We are Indians by blood, not by paper’ among other placards. People also invoked BR Ambedkar and rationalist Periyar EV Ramasamy and spoke about constitutional values.
The members expressed sorrow to the people died fighting against the Citizenship Act and strongly urged the Centre to repeal the act back. The members also criticised the State government for voting for the bill in Rajya Sabha.
While the protest in Chepauk got over around 2pm, the one at Triplicane went on strong till 5 pm. No violence was seen in both the events and it was mostly calm, despite the massive crowd.