| February 12, 2020 | IANS - Azamgarh |
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday arrived in Bilariyaganj in Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh district to meet the victims of police atrocities suffered during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests.
She told the victims: "Wrong has been done to all of you, and we have to stand against this injustice. This government is entirely against the poor people."
Priyanka Gandhi assured the women that she would stand with them and help them in their fight against citizenship laws.
The victims of the violence were brought to an empty plot where they met the Congress General Secretary.
Her visit to Azamgarh is a major embarrassment for the local MP Akhilesh Yadav, who is the Samajwadi Party president.
Posters proclaiming Akhilesh Yadav as "missing" had appeared in Azamgarh on Sunday when he did not visit his constituency after the incident though he did send a party delegation later.
It may be recalled that the Uttar Pradesh police had forcibly removed about 200 anti-CAA women protesters from Jauhar Park of Bilariyaganj town in Azamgarh in the wee hours of February 5.
The police lathi-charged the protesters and used tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. They had also detained hundreds of protesters, including women and children.
According to sources, the police crackdown began at around 3 a.m. on February 5.
Women protesters said that a posse of policemen had started pressuring them to vacate the protest site. When they refused, the police used tear gas shells and batons and rubber bullets against them.
Several protesters were injured in the ensuing melee and others fled to save their lives.
Meanwhile, Congress workers who accompanied Priyanka Gandhi were stopped at the barricades that had been erected in Bilariyaganj. Journalists were also stopped from moving ahead.
This led to a heated exchange between the police and the party workers.
Earlier, Priyanka was given a rousing welcome at Mahadev Bazaar in Jaunpur while she was on her way to Azamgarh.
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