Amid CAA Row, National Anthem Unites Cop & Protesters in B’luru

The people’s resistance won, as the Bengaluru police allowed protesters to march towards Town Hall.

Cops sung national anthem with the protesters in Bengaluru.

(Photo Courtesy: @prajwalmanipal)

Simultaneous protests raged in multiple cities as students, activists and others defying prohibitory orders to voice their dissent against the new citizenship law flocked public places on Thursday, 19 December.

Amid the unrest around Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, at a protest march in Karnataka’s Bengaluru, DCP of Bengaluru (Central), Chetan Singh Rathore, spoke directly to the protesters and asked them if they would join him in singing the national anthem.

Rathore told the protesters, "Often there is a mob mentality in such crowds. In this situation, we cannot recognise the miscreants very easily. But they hide amongst us and if they do anything wrong, we'll all face the brunt."

He asked the assembled protesters to have faith in him, following which he went on to sing the national anthem as the crowd joined him.

Despite section 144 of CrPc being imposed across the state, massive crowds of people thronged to raise their voice against CAA and NRC.

The people’s resistance and persistence paid off as Bengaluru police allowed them to march towards Town Hall.

The Karnataka government on Thursday night suspended mobile Internet services for 48 hours in Dakshina Kannada district, as protests saw violence in Mangaluru city, wherein two persons were killed.

Meanwhile, in Delhi on Thursday, a video circulated on Twitter of students surrounding the police and asking them to join them in singing the national anthem at Jantar Mantar.

With violence erupting between protesters and violence in several areas, the heartwarming gestures come amid mistrust between the people and authorities.

On Thursday, as the protest began in Bengaluru, several people, including renowned historian Ramachandra Guha who was manhandled on camera, were detained in the city.