Women hold Shaheen Bagh-like protest in Mumbai

Tribune News Service

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Mumbai, January 27

Several hundred women from Muslim-dominated neighbourhoods of Nagpada, Madanpura and Agripada in Mumbai Central are holding a Shaheen Bagh-like protest in the city from January 26 night.

The demonstration, which began as a sit-in on Sunday afternoon, turned into complete Shaheen Bagh-like protest with a large number of women assembling on the Morland Road outside Arabia Hotel. According to police officials at the Nagpada police station, there were around 200 protesters on Sunday night.

The women cutting across age groups, most of them clad in burqas, sat quietly by the roadside holding placards against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.

By Monday morning, the local police cordoned off the roads leading to the area, nicknamed Mumbai Bagh on the social media. “The police are checking the identification of women who are coming to the protest site,” local activist Shakeela Bano said. By afternoon, local residents took to social media requesting more people to join in the protests.

“Need people to come to #MumbaiBagh or we will be detained … Please do come ASAP. Location: Mumbai Central, Next to Arabia Hotel, Opposite City Centre,” said a message which went viral on the Internet.

As the numbers grew by late afternoon, the local police stopped checking the identification of protesters. A police official said traffic was being diverted. The crowd had swelled to 500 persons by late Monday afternoon, according to the police.

Political leaders from the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition requested the police not to crack down on the protesting women.

“The women are sitting on a satyagraha in Nagpada and the place has been nicknamed Shaheen Bagh,” Husain Dalwai, Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP, said.