{"id":772178,"date":"2019-12-27T10:27:14","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T10:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2019\/12\/27\/pics-indian-state-imposes-lockdown-after-deadly-protests-against-citizenship-law\/"},"modified":"2019-12-27T10:27:14","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T10:27:14","slug":"pics-indian-state-imposes-lockdown-after-deadly-protests-against-citizenship-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/12\/27\/pics-indian-state-imposes-lockdown-after-deadly-protests-against-citizenship-law\/","title":{"rendered":"PICS: Indian state imposes lockdown after deadly protests against citizenship law"},"content":{"rendered":"

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New Delhi \u2014 Paramilitary and police forces were deployed and the internet shut down Friday in Muslim-majority districts in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which has experienced the highest death toll in protests that have erupted nationwide against a new citizenship law that excludes Muslims.<\/p>\n

Security drones buzzed over western Uttar Pradesh, where protests turned violent after last week’s Friday prayers. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Twenty-three people have been killed nationwide since the citizenship law was passed in Parliament earlier this month in protests that represent the first major roadblock for Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Hindu nationalist agenda since his party\u2019s landslide reelection earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Most of the deaths \u2014 16 people \u2014 have occurred in Uttar Pradesh, according to state government spokesman Awanish Awasthi. Twenty percent of the state\u2019s 200 million people are Muslim. The state government is controlled by Modi\u2019s governing Bharatiya Janata Party. Government officials have repeatedly said security forces haven’t killed anyone.<\/p>\n

Modi has defended the new citizenship law and accused the opposition of pushing the country into a \u201cfear psychosis.\u201d<\/p>\n