Lucknow's Ghantaghar sanitised after anti-CAA protest suspended over coronavirus

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], Mar 23 : Area around the ghantaghar (Clock Tower) was stized on Monday after women who were staging an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) demonstration here called of their protest temporarily earlier today.

The anti-CAA, NRC and NPR protest was temporarily suspended due to the government's orders of lockdown in 75-disricts of the country were issued after the cases of Covid-19 emerged.

"The anti-CAA, NRC and NPR protest in Lucknow's Ghantaghar has come to an end," Commissioner of Police, Lucknow, Sujeet Pandey said.

However, the women have symbolically left behind the stage, set up for the demonstrations, and their dupattas (stoles) as a mark of their protest.

In a letter written to the Commissioner of Police, Lucknow, the women's body leading the protests said that the demonstrations will resume as soon as the government withdraws the orders issued to combat the COVID-19 situation in the country.

It has also requested the administration to leave the stage constructed at the protest site untouched.

Many anti-CAA protests, around the country, have been temporarily called off in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Uttar Pradesh government has put 16 districts under total lockdown till April 25, which include Agra, Lucknow, Gautam Budh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Varanasi, Lakhimpur Khiri, Bareilly, Azamgarh, Kanpur, Meerut, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Gorakhpur, Pilibhit, and Saharanpur.

The Health Ministry has reported 23 positive cases of coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh including one foreign national.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India so far has 415 confirmed cases of the infection.

( With inputs from ANI )