At least 19 people have been killed in the Indian capital during violent clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups over a new citizenship law, a senior hospital official told Reuters, although there was an eerie calm on Wednesday in the riot-torn areas.
There are 15 patients in critical condition,” the hospital official from the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital told Reuters, adding a total of 19 people had now died at the facility.
At least 19 people have been killed and over 150 injured in several days of clashes in some of the worst sectarian violence in decades in New Delhi.
Protests against a contentious citizenship law on Sunday descended Monday and Tuesday into running battles between Hindus and Muslims, as rioters armed with stones, swords and even guns went out in force in the Indian capital.
The rioting in northeastern parts of the sprawling megacity of 20 million people left a trail of destruction as mobs set fire to vehicles and buildings, including a tyre market.
The violence raged just as US President Donald Trump visited India on Monday and Tuesday, holding talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Trump left as scheduled on Tuesday.
Authorities in New Delhi were bracing Wednesday for more violence, bringing in riot police and paramilitary reinforcements.
Protests have broken out across India since the citizenship law came into force in December, leaving at least 30 people killed in clashes with police in December, mostly in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Tuesday's violence
Violence erupted in multiple areas of northeast Delhi on Tuesday, just miles away from where Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were meeting for talks.
Reuters witnesses saw mobs wielding sticks and stones walking down streets in parts of northeast Delhi and further incidents of stone-throwing.
A fire department official said his teams were responding to more than a dozen separate calls relating to arson incidents on Tuesday, as protests flared around the city.
"We have sought police protection as our vehicles are being blocked from entering the affected areas. The situation is very grim," said Delhi Fire Department Director Atul Garg.
Schools in the northeast of the city were shut on Tuesday and at least five metro stations closed.
Appealing for calm, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said "violence will not help find a solution”.
Trump commends Modi
India's capital has been a hotbed of unrest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which makes it easier for non-Muslims from three neighbouring Muslim-dominated countries to gain Indian citizenship.
The CAA has sparked accusations that Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are undermining India's secular traditions.
The BJP denies any bias against India's more than 180 million minority Muslims but objectors have been staging protests and camping out in parts of New Delhi for two months.
>> Watch: 385-mile human chain - Indians line up to protest citizenship law
During his visit, Trump praised India as a tolerant country.
"India is a country that proudly embraces freedom, liberty, individual rights, the rule of law and the dignity of every human being," he told a rally of over 100,000 people in Modi's home state of Gujarat on Monday. "Your unity is an inspiration to the world."
After talks with Modi, the US leader commended his host for “working very hard on religious freedom” and refused to discuss the controversial citizenship law.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
