Anti-CAA protest temporarily called off amid coronavirus outbreak in TN

In view of the coronavirus outbreak, Anti-CAA NRC-NPR protestors at Washermanpet in Chennai have called off their protest for the time being. Modelled on the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi, the protest in Chennai has been going on for the last 33 days with scores of people including women taking part.

Chennai: Following the outbreak of novel coronavirus, the month-long agitation at Washermanpet here against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) was temporarily called off by the protesters early on Wednesday.

"Due to coronavirus spread and to support the state and the central government to contain the same, we have called off our protest," Latheef, an organizer of Shaheen Bagh Vannarapattai Anti-CAA NRC-NPR protest said while speaking to reporters.

Tamil Nadu chief secretary K Shanmugam on March 14 met with representatives from the Muslim community at the state secretariat and urged them to call off the protests.

Scores of people including women had been sitting in protest against the CAA here for the last 33 days in the area that is being called Chennai's Shaheen Bagh, which is modeled on the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi.

Such protests have also been going on, in other places of Tamil Nadu.

Over 147 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and there are three deaths from the infection in India according to official data.

According to the World Health Organization's latest estimates, there are over 184,976 cases globally of novel coronavirus with at least 7,529 deaths.

ANI