LUCKNOW: A bid to emulate Shaheen bagh and Lucknow Ghantaghar protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was foiled in Varanasi on Thursday.
As per the police sources, 10 people, all men, were taken into custody while women who had gathered at Beniabagh ground to protest fled the venue.
Sources claimed that at noon, around a dozen Muslim women assembled at Gandhi Chauraha inside Beniabagh ground to initiate a sit-in protest against CAA.
In no time, they were joined people from adjoining localities.
On receiving a tip-off, Varanasi DM Kaushal Raj Sharma and SSP Prabhakar Chaudhary reached the venue along with a heavy contingent of police, PAC and Rapid Action Force.
As the DM and SSP asked the protestors to show the letter of prior permission sought for protest, they denied having one.
As a result, police started taking the protestors into custody leading to their scuffle with cops.
To thwart the police's efforts, some people indulged in stone-pelting from outside the site of protests.
Consequently, the women fled the spot and the 10 persons taken into custody were sent to police lines.
Later, while interacting with media persons, Varanasi DM said that he had already made it clear that no protest would be allowed in the city without prior permission from district administration as Section 144 of CrPC was in force in the district in the wake of upcoming Republic Day.