Man opens fire on CAA protesters in Indian capital

NEW DELHI: A gunman, suspected to be a nationalist party activist, went live on Facebook to warn he was taking his “final journey” before firing at a protest against India’s new citizenship law in Delhi on Thursday, wounding a student, a British wire service reported.

The shooter, dressed in ablack jacket, brandished a single-barrel weapon as he stood meters away from dozens of policemen outside Jamia Millia Islamia University, where more than 1,000 protesters had gathered for a march.

He shouted slogans against the protesters, including hijab clad women, before firing at them in the first such incident in the capital during more than a month of demonstrations.

“He was in front of all the people - protesters and policemen who were standing nearby, but he jumped in from this side, brandished the gun and said: 'Yeh lo Aazadi’ (Here is your freedom),” a witness who gave his name as Aamir said.

The Citizenship Amendment Act fast-tracks Indian citizenship for non-Muslim minorities from three neighboring countries. By late on Thursday, hundreds of riot police armed with teargas canisters and backed by water cannon patrolled the area as protesters sang the national anthem and waved the Indian flag.

Thursday’s shooting raised concerns from the opposition that youths are trying to take the law into their own hands to crush any dissent against the government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has rejected the protests and members of his hardline Hindu nationalist party and its affiliates have painted the protesters as anti-nationals.

This week, India’s junior finance minister Anurag Thakur encouraged supporters at a state election rally in New Delhi to chant slogans calling for traitors to be shot, drawing a reprimand from the election commission.

Minutes before firing, the shooter, who identified himself as “Rambhakt Gopal” had uploaded posts onto his social media profile saying this will be his “final journey” and urging readers to “remember his family”. Later, the social media site took his account down.

His video showed him walking through a road near Jamia, where the students were gathering. On his Facebook the shooter had also posted photos of himself posing with a gun and he is seen wearing a saffron T-shirt, the color of Hindu nationalists.

Police later said they had detained the suspected gunman but gave no details. They said one student was injured in his hand. The main opposition Congress party said the shooting showed comments by leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party could stoke violence. “Is this what BJP leaders ... intended? Creating an armed militia of radicalized youth,” the party said in a statement.