Mass Hindu-Muslim violence engulfs Delhi today during Trump and Melania’s suck-up session with Modi.
From the Washington Post:
“Rioters roamed the streets with iron rods and wooden sticks, demanding to know whether people were Hindus or Muslims. Mosques were damaged and shops were set ablaze, sending smoke billowing high into the air. People with gunshot wounds and blunt trauma from hurled stones rushed into a nearby hospital.”
The video and photos of the bloody violence are horrifying. None are published by us in this blog post, but some are shown in the embedded tweets that follow.
The riots represent a serious escalation of tensions after months of protests in response to a controversial citizenship law and growing frictions between supporters and opponents of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (…)
This week’s violence in northeastern Delhi is the worst in the capital since at least 1992, when there were nationwide riots, and possibly since the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
The trigger for the clashes came when Kapil Mishra, a local leader of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, on Sunday threatened to clear a sit-in mounted by protesters, nearly all Muslim women, against the citizenship law. He said he would take no action while Trump was visiting, but that if police did not move the protesters soon, he would take matters into his own hands.
Read more:
Worst communal violence in Delhi in decades leaves 13 dead as Trump visits India
[Joanna Slater, Niha Masih, and Tania Dutta, Feb. 25, 2020]
PHOTO: ”President Trump and the First Lady in India,” Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead, PUBLIC DOMAIN.
President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are presented with a gift by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a tour of the home of Mahatma Gandhi Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, at Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad, India.
Hindus and Muslims marching together in Delhi: ‘Hum sabb aik hein!’ Goosebumps. #whatweneedmoreof https://t.co/TtzMaZVzj9
— Saba Gul (@sabagl) February 25, 2020
The saffron flag – a symbol appropriated by Hindu nationalists – put on top of vandalised mosque in Delhi. @therealnaomib writes more on it here https://t.co/mFkfncCCef https://t.co/zDCmmuUKdE
— Kaamil Ahmed (@KaamilAhmed) February 25, 2020
Shoot at sight order applies to people with particular clothes. #ShootAtSight order has come from home ministry. It has to be implemented by Delhi Police. Understand the chronology! Delhi Police has long way to win trust of large section of society! https://t.co/0L3XlaC5ih
— Rifat Jawaid (@RifatJawaid) February 25, 2020
“We are all one! We won’t let them destroy our community’ shout residents of a mixed-religion area of India’s capital New Delhi as Hindu fascists go on an arson/killing spree pic.twitter.com/2COhsRhHI1
— Ali Mustafa (@Ali_Mustafa) February 25, 2020
A New Delhi, 13 morts dans des violences entre hindous nationalistes et musulmans https://t.co/UT0SexlCQk pic.twitter.com/wsxHtibQSZ
— FRANCE 24 – Vidéos (@F24videos) February 25, 2020
"Delhi Police are present saying they are unable to intervene." https://t.co/0dHLq66pkn
— Raza Ahmad Rumi (@Razarumi) February 25, 2020
USCIRF is alarmed by reports of deadly mob violence targeting Muslims in New Delhi, #India and urges the #Modi government to rein in mobs and protect religious minorities and others who have been targeted. #DelhiViolence #CAAProtesthttps://t.co/MiUaDI2GnQ
— USCIRF (@USCIRF) February 25, 2020
Many victims felled by bullets in Delhi clashes https://t.co/SBGRAsTlVg
— The Hindu (@the_hindu) February 25, 2020
Deadly clashes in Delhi during Trump visit, @paraicobrien reportshttps://t.co/Kp7bbWEm4D
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) February 25, 2020
UPDATE: At least 13 people in New Delhi are dead after clashes over India's citizenship law, some of its worst sectarian violence in years:
– Police set up roadblocks
– Mobs reportedly attacking journalists
– People report "bullets are being fired" but limited police presence pic.twitter.com/mhHhkn8PSz— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 25, 2020
National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval reviews the security situation in North-East Delhi. #DelhiViolence https://t.co/Nm146mT9da pic.twitter.com/Tdlo4WKESi
— ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2020
Chaos, Panic In GTB Hospital As Those Injured In Delhi Violence Rushed In https://t.co/WdEz0rPCZu
— NDTV News feed (@ndtvfeed) February 25, 2020
Mr Modi, Mr Shah, you and your people and your values have turned Delhi into Gujarat. A place of hate, violence, impunity, and bigotry.
— Tunku Varadarajan (@tunkuv) February 25, 2020
Muslims are being forced to chant Hindu Nationalist slogans on the streets of Delhi, or else face brutal attack https://t.co/vHBHHaWa1C
— Khaled Beydoun (@KhaledBeydoun) February 25, 2020
The number of fellow journalists and well wishers who have advised me against heading to Delhi tomorrow speaks volumes of the situation in the national capital. Their concern is my Muslim name which at this moment makes any citizen of the national capital vulnerable.
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) February 25, 2020
Trump praised India's PM Modi for “working very hard on religious freedom.”
But just 10 miles away, in New Delhi's working-class neighborhood of Maujpur, tensions boiled over into violence.
At least 13 people (Muslims and Hindus) were killed.
PHOTOS: https://t.co/jaUgL47ydq
— Kainaz Amaria (@kainazamaria) February 25, 2020
These visuals from Delhi have left me absolutely gutted. Never thought I would be alive to witness yet another pogrom.
— aparna (@FuschiaScribe) February 25, 2020
Trump’s witnessing first hand the poor air quality in India — very thick smog in Delhi today.
2/3 of world’s most polluted cities are in India, @iainmarlow reports https://t.co/m617XLxaFZ pic.twitter.com/7GHcYIUL0p
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) February 25, 2020
Hindu-Muslim violence has broken out in Delhi, sparked by protests over Modi's divisive new citizenship law. “The Muslims have other countries they can go to, like Syria or Nigeria. They need to get out of India,’’ one Hindu told @gettleman @suhasiniraj https://t.co/fwvKQueFTa
— Ellen Barry (@EllenBarryNYT) February 25, 2020
The scariest part of what’s happening in Delhi is the total radicalisation and dehumanisation of Delhi Police.
— Rituparna Chatterjee (@MasalaBai) February 25, 2020
#DelhiViolence | A man with a gun, seen around around 3.30 pm on 24 February, in Yamuna Vihar, across the road from Chand Bagh, in northeast Delhi.
Photograph by Shivam Khanna. pic.twitter.com/L8JgtbzWOy
— The Caravan (@thecaravanindia) February 25, 2020
Late night hearing by the Delhi High Court directing the police to provide safe passage for transferring injured patients to hospitals equipped to deal with serious injuries. Order records doctors were asking for help from police since 4 pm with no success. pic.twitter.com/muY3k8NWsE
— Anjali Bhardwaj (@AnjaliB_) February 25, 2020
The lede on @nytimes report from Delhi: "In one part of New Delhi, President Trump was sightseeing and talking about his warming relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In another, a neighborhood was ripping apart in flames, along religious lines." https://t.co/ON0owvHq1v
— Daniel Medina (@dmedin11) February 25, 2020
What Nero’s guest ate on the night Delhi burned. https://t.co/QKY1ktQXwS
— Aruna Chandrasekhar (@aruna_sekhar) February 25, 2020
At least 13 people are dead and hundreds injured after days of violent protests in New Delhi.
Protesters and supporters of India's new citizenship law clashed in the most deadly confrontation since the law was passed. #DelhiRiots2020
Warning: Graphic images. pic.twitter.com/Hx6oZFYjJ7
— AJ+ (@ajplus) February 25, 2020
On-ground reporting from a hospital in NE Delhi where people began flooding in w/ bullet and multiple stab wounds.
Many died simply because the ambulances to carry them to a bigger facility were barred from entering.
Only a late night court order allowed them to pass through. https://t.co/Aq7Oa4K2bG
— Yashica Dutt (@YashicaDutt) February 25, 2020
The news coming out of #Delhi is crazy. Praying for peace and tolerance for minorities🙏🏽🇮🇳
— Arjan Singh Bhullar (@TheOneASB) February 25, 2020
Delhi police, like other police forces across India, is quite comfortable providing cover for, while turning a blind eye to, violence against Indian Muslims by pro-Modi Hindu nationalist mobs. Shameful. https://t.co/kziiVNgyQj
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 25, 2020