The latest deaths took the nationwide toll from the violence to 20 (Money SHARMA)
<p>New Delhi (AFP) – An eight-year-old boy and four protesters were killed in India on Friday in clashes between police and demonstrators, officials said Saturday, as unrest over a controversial citizenship law rages into a second week.</p><p>The latest deaths took the nationwide toll from the violence to 20.</p><p>There has been growing disquiet about the law, which gives people from persecuted minorities from three neighbouring countries an easier path to citizenship, but not if they are Muslim.</p><p>On Friday, demonstrations turned violent in India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh, where Muslims make up almost 20 percent of the 200-million population.</p><p>Police have so far said that the day’s unrest in Uttar Pradesh claimed 11 lives in total, including the child, who was trampled.</p><p>Uttar Pradesh police spokesman Shirish Chandra confirmed to AFP that the other 10 people died after being shot.</p><p>"Ten people were killed on Friday. All of them were bullet fatalities. We are looking into other cases," Chandra said.</p><p>The boy had died after 2,500 people including children joined a rally in the holy city of Varanasi, district police chief Prabhakar Chaudhary told AFP.</p><p>"When the police tried to quell the protests, these persons ran for cover and a stampede-like situation emerged, in which this boy died," Chaudhary said.</p><p>He added that police "exercised complete restraint against the crowds that engaged in attacking them with stones".</p><p>The Times of India said the boy was playing in a lane with a friend when they were trampled by a crowd being chased by police.</p><p>Two deaths were in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district, a spokesman for the district police chief told AFP.</p><p>Five other people in the state’s districts — two from Meerut, two from Muzaffarnagar and one from Bignor — died from gunshot wounds, medical and police officials told AFP Friday.</p><p>A sixth death was confirmed by police in Firozabad city on Friday. The locations of the other deaths have not been revealed by authorities.</p><p>Critics say the law discriminates against Muslims and is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda, but he has repeatedly denied the claims.</p><p>Authorities have scrambled to contain the situation, imposing emergency laws, blocking internet access, and shutting down shops and restaurants in sensitive pockets across the country.</p><p></p>

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.