At least 30 killed, 250 wounded in Delhi riots as UN chief urges restraint
Men ride a motorcycle past security forces patrolling a street in a riot affected area after clashes erupted between people demonstrating for and against a new citizenship law in New Delhi, India, February 26, 2020. © Reuters / Adnan Abidi
Violent unrest in India’s capital has left at least 30 people dead, with more than 250 injured. After days of intense clashes between rival protesters over a citizenship law, the city has returned to relative calm.
With two more people succumbing to serious injuries sustained during the riots, the death toll reached at least 30 early on Thursday morning, Sunil Kumar Gautam, superintendent of the Guru Teg Bahadur hospital, told ANI.
While Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal previously called for the army to be deployed to the city to put down the unrest, so far only police have intervened, equipped with batons, tear gas, water cannon and even drones in some cases. With police making more than 100 arrests in connection to the riots and continuing patrols across New Delhi, the violence – which gripped the capital for three days – has largely come to an end.
The UN, meanwhile, has called on all parties to avoid further escalation. A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “maximum restraint” and for “violence to be avoided,” noting that the UN chief was saddened by reports of lost lives.
The Delhi riots have grabbed headlines in Pakistan, too. Pakistani PM Imran Khan responded to the news by blaming the spike in violence on “the Nazi-inspired RSS ideology,” referring to a right-wing Hindu nationalist organization, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
“Now 200 million Muslims in India are being targeted. The world community must act now,” Khan said, adding that any non-Muslim minorities targeted in Pakistan would be dealt with “strictly.”
