‘Though it’s been four years, the university has not been the same anymore.’
Radiance News
New Delhi, Dec. 16: On Friday, December 15, at Jamia Millia Islamia Campus here, hundreds of students assembled and did a solidarity march, commemorating four years of brutality and hard violence against Jamia students who were protesting peacefully against the Citizens Amendment Act.
Though the solidarity march started at 4:30 in the evening around Central Canteen area, Gate No. 7, Delhi police, CRPF and some other forces were present at the university entry gates right from the afternoon.
Recalling the atrocities of the violent day, the students expressed concerns over the safety and security of the university space, adding that post-CAA and NRC years have created a constrained atmosphere on the campus.
Participating in the march were student groups namely AISA, AIRSO, MSF, DISSC, SFI, SFD, NSUI, AISF, CRJD, MSU, Fraternity Movement, GIO and SIO. Criticising Delhi police and Islamophobia, student leaders addressed the gathering, carrying posters that read, “You can bring tears to our eyes, not fear to our hearts”, “Inquilab Zindabad” and many more slogans.
Amid the protest, students also raised slogans in support of Palestine.
With the candle march at Gate No. 7, the march concluded.
Radiance spoke to one of the female security guards, who said she was present at Gate No. 7 on December 15, 2019 when the police personnel entered the campus forcefully. She however wished to remain anonymous. She told Radiance that the police entered the campus around 5 in the evening through different gates, breaking all the locks and beating security guards on duty that day. Thereafter everyone ran helter-skelter searching for safe places; then the police attacked the crowd with tear gas shells.
She also said the students who were inside Gate No. 7 were not only the ones who were protesting but also the students who had come to study at the library and reading halls as it was exam season. But the police started beating them violently. She further said that the police broke windows, gates, library furniture and even students’ laptops and smartphones. They attacked so badly that it resulted in fractures and severe injuries, and even the eye of one of the boys got ruptured and started bleeding. She helped that boy by making him climb the back gate of the campus and she also ran away from Gate No. 7.
She added that though it’s been four years, the university has not been the same anymore.
