As most parts of India went into lockdown on 23 March, signalling the start of a collective fight against the spread of COVID-19, police in the capital moved swiftly to put an end to another battle – one against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act – at Shaheen Bagh.
Shaheen Bagh has been the site of the longest peaceful anti-CAA protests in India, starting in December, and continuing uninterrupted through the cold winter.
But on the morning of 24 March, large groups of the police moved into the Shaheen Bagh protest site quickly to clear it, and detain anyone who refused to comply.
While the country stayed in stasis, the site that became a symbol of peaceful protest was wiped clean.
What next for the protests at Shaheen Bagh? And why were they such an important part of the anti-CAA movement, symbolically and otherwise?
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