The protest by Muslim women and members of Islamic organisations at Old Washermenpet entered its 22nd day on Friday.
They continue the protest even as authorities have been consistently trying to persuade them to give up their agitation.
On Friday, women protesters and men in black shirts and trousers staged an agitation after noon prayers. They released hundreds of black balloons to show their opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA).
Two of the locality’s narrow streets — Sajja Munusamy Street and Aziz Mohamed Street — have been filled with more than 1,000 women and children wearing anti-CAA and NRC bandanas and raising anti-CAA and azadi slogans. E. Mohammed Rasheed, president of north Chennai unit of Social Democratic Party of India, said, “We will continue to protest until a resolution is passed by State government against the CAA.”
Expressing solidarity with protesters, retired High Court Judge Justice D. Hariparanthaman said National Population Register (NPR) is a first step towards implementation of the provisions of CAA. NRC will be prepared based on the inputs gathered from NPR exercise. Hence, the NPR exercise should be prevented now, he added.
Justice Hariparanthaman said exercises such as NRC and NPR are by-products of rules framed by Union government in 2003. They did not get any legal sanction of Parliament. So there is no hitch to the State government passing a resolution against those two, he said.
