Six people, who were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act, were killed in Uttar Pradesh on Friday.

Two protesters were killed in Bijnor while one each died in Sambhal, Firozabad, Meerut and Kanpur.

In New Delhi, scores of people were injured in police baton charge.

UP Police claimed that none of the deaths had occured due to police firing. “We did not fire a single bullet,” said Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police OP Singh.

The Times of India reported, quoting a medical officer of the LLRM Medical College, that all injured and dead had gun shots.

Photo: PTI

People gathered in large numbers across the country and in most major cities defying prohibitory orders to protests against the amendments to Citizenship Act. While these were largely peaceful, there were also reports of violence from various corners of the country.

The newly amended law seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who came to the country from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.

Some major developments from Friday:

File Photo: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan

KERALA

The Kerala government on Friday said it has ordered a stay on all activities in connection with the National Population Register (NPR) in the state considering 'apprehensions' of public that it would lead to NRC in the wake of the controversial citizenship act.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's office in a release said: "After considering the concerns raised in the wake of the 2019 amendment in the Citizenship Act, the State Government has decided not to cooperate with the process to update the NPR to facilitate the preparation of the NRC."

“The NPR also deviates from constitutional values,” it added.

The NPR is a mandatory Register of usual residents of the country. It is prepared at local, state and national levels to create a comprehensive identity database.

The last time the NPR was collected was in 2010 along with the Census of India 2011.

Vijayan also lashed out at the CAA saying it was an attempt to "curb" freedom and participated in a joint protest against it with the opposition Congress-led UDF on Monday.

Kerala journalists were detained in Mangaluru while reporting the death of two protesters in police firing. Photo: Manorama

Earlier, after Kerala journalists were detained in Mangaluru where two people died in police firing, the state government expressed 'deep concern' and sought the intervention of Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa for their immediate release.

Over 150 journalists from various media houses at Thiruvanathapuram braved rains and protested the CAA and detention of their colleagues on Friday.

Kerala police were directed to maintain high vigil in the northern districts. Photo: Manorama

The Kerala police have been directed to maintain high vigil in northern districts of Kerala and along its border with Karnataka in wake of the incident.

DELHI

The national capital witnessed a wave of fresh protests on Friday with a car being set on fire in Old Delhi. People in their thousands took to the streets shouting anti-government slogans over the contentious citizenship law.

The epicentre of the protest was the locality around the Jama Masjid where a massive protest was held defying prohibitory orders and police clampdown.

Protests outside Jama Masjid in Old Delhi. Bhim Army chief Chandrasekhar Azad is seen holding up the Constitution. Photo: PTI

Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, holding up a copy of the Constitution, was leading the protesters in a march from Jama Masjid area to Jantar Mantar but they were stopped at the Delhi Gate where large number of barricades were erected.

At least 40 people were detained in connection with the violence at Daryaganj in Old Delhi where a car was set ablaze.

A car was set ablaze after protests took a violent turn in Delhi's Daryaganj. Photo: Twitter

Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) were also witnessed in several other areas in the national capital including in Jamia Millia Islamiya, Seemapuri, Jantar Mantar, India Gate and northeast Delhi's Seelampur, the site of large scale violence by protestors on Tuesday.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi slammed the Modi government for "disregarding" peoples' concerns.

#WATCH Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi: In a democracy people have right to raise their voice against policies of govt®ister their concerns. BJP govt has shown utter disregard for people’s voices&chosen to use brute force to suppress dissent. #CitizenshipAmendmentAct pic.twitter.com/sWyz1bvvgz — ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2019

"In a democracy people have the right to raise their voice against wrong decisions and policies of the government and register their concerns. BJP government has shown utter disregard for people's voices and chosen to use brute force to suppress dissent," she said in a televised message.

Protests in Ayodhya. Photo: PTI

UTTAR PRADESH

According to India Today, at least 3,000 people have been arrested across UP in connection with the protests since Thursday night.

Mobile internet services and SMS of all mobile service providers have been suspended in Lucknow till December 21 noon. Section 144 has been in place in the entire state for several days now.

File Photo: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said his government will avenge the destruction of public assets during the protests over the amended citizenship law by seizing and auctioning off the property of those involved in the violence.

Photo: PTI

KARNATAKA

The situation in Bengaluru and other parts of the state, where prohibitory orders are in place, was also peaceful with no major protests taking place on Friday.

Roads in Mangaluru wore a deserted look and educational institutions were closed, officials said, adding that the situation was likely to continue on Saturday as well.

Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah demanded a high-level probe into the death of two people in police firing amid protests in Mangaluru on Thursday.

File Photo: Karnataka CM Yediyurappa

Karnataka Chief Minister Yediyurappa on Friday evening chaired a meeting of top police officials, along with the Home Minister to review the law and order situation in the state.

Protests in Bhopal. Photo: PTI

MADHYA PRADESH

The Madhya Pradesh police on Friday issued a directive asking WhatsApp group administrators to ensure objectionable comments affecting law and order are not posted.

The Crime Branch directive promised strict legal action against violators.

Authorities have also clamped prohibitory orders under CrPC section 144, banning the assembly of people, in 44 of 52 districts in MP. It will remain in force till February 18, an official said.

Prohibitory orders notwithstanding, protests were held in several parts of the state on Friday.

The Congress on Friday announced that Chief Minister Kamal Nath will lead a march in Bhopal on December 25 against the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC.

File Photo: TMC leader Mamata Banerjee leading a protest in West Bengal.

WEST BENGAL

After being widely criticised for seeking a UN-monitored referendum on the new citizenship law, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday made a U-turn and said she only wanted an opinion poll observed by impartial experts.

Photo: PTI

The TMC supremo held a meeting the party MPs and MLAs to devise the party's strategy to counter the new citizenship law and announced a series of protest programmes.

Meanwhile, the Calcutta HC on Friday asked the West Bengal government to provide a detailed district-wise report on the present law and order situation in the state and damage of public properties following violent protests over the amended citizenship law.

Vigil has been stepped in several parts of the state, especially in bordering districts to prevent any untoward incident, the police said.

Photo: PTI

BIHAR

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday asserted that National Register for Citizens will not be implemented in the state, putting at rest speculations raised by his JD(U)s support to the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Notably, Kumar becomes the first chief minister from the NDA camp to have voiced disapproval of the proposed move to have an all India NRC which has triggered country-wide tension and protests.

Kumar is heading a coalition government with the BJP in Bihar.

File Photo: Security forces stand vigil in Assam in wake of protests.

NORTH-EAST

The situation in the eastern and north eastern states, which were rocked by large scale protests against the amended Citizenship Act after the passage of the Bill in Parliament, was peaceful on Friday with no report of any demonstration or violence from any state in the region.

In Shillong, the curfew was relaxed for 16 hours as protests subsided after the Assembly adopted a resolution on Thursday urging the Centre to extend Inner Line Permit (ILP) to the state under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Act, 1873, to safeguard the indigenous population.

File Photo: Women take part in protest against Citizenship Act in North East.

The ILP if implemented in Meghalaya, would keep the state out of the purview of the amended citizenship law.

Internet services were restored on Friday in Assam nine days after its suspension.

MAHARASHTRA

Protests took a violent turn in Beed, Parbhani, Nanded and Hingoli districts of Marathawada region of Maharashtra on Friday, with at least a dozen persons injured in stone pelting.

Miscreants also targeted State Transport (ST) buses, even as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray appealed for peace and assured that no citizen would be deported when the CAA is implemented.

Protests in Mumbai. Photo: PTI

In Pune city, over 10,000 people took out a protest march, which started at Babajaan Durgah in Cantonment and ended at District Collector's office.

In Nagpur, where winter session of the Maharashtra legislature is underway, thousands of people took part in a protest march. Participants included members of Darul uloom Amjadia, Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind, Jamaat-E-Islami Hind.

A delegation of protesters has met Chief Minister Thackeray at the legislature complex.

Photo: PTI

CENTRE'S RESPONSE

As the protests against the imposition of the NRC gained momentum, the Centre sought to allay any fears about this massive exercise.

A top official of the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) said anyone born in India before July 1, 1987 or whose parents were born before that date are bona fide Indian citizens according to law and need not worry due to the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) or a possible countrywide NRC.

On Friday, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Puducherry, Chattisgarh and Maharashtra decided not to implement the Citizenship Act and the National Register of Citizens.

Kerala, Punjab and West Bengal governments had earlier announced that the controversial citizenship legislation would not be implemented in their jurisdiction.

Photo: PTI

But the Centre said the state governments have no powers to reject the implementation of the CAA.

"The states have no powers to deny implementation of a central law which is in the Union List," the official said.

There are 97 items under the Union List of the 7th Schedule and they include Defence, External Affairs, Railways, Citizenship and Naturalisation.

Referring to the NPR to be carried out along with the census exercise next year, the official said no state can refuse to carry out the process as it will be done as per the Citizenship Act.

(With inputs from agencies)