INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
More than 20 people were injured at a top Indian university when masked attackers stormed the campus in New Delhi
It comes as tensions continue to rise over the government's new citizenship law and increases to student fees.Video footage that emerged
after the assault showed people in masks roaming inside the corridors of Jawaharlal Nehru University and beating students who were
protesting against the fee hike.Image:Research scholar Surya Prakash said he cried out to the attackers that he is blindSurya Prakash, 25, a
research scholar at JNU's Sanskrit school, said he had been brutally beaten in the attack even though he had cried out to the perpetrators
that he is blind.He said: "They first broke the door and windows of the room and barged inside and hit my head with a rod."Aarti Vij, a
spokeswoman at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said most of the injured were treated in hospital for cuts and bruises.While the
attackers used a fire extinguisher to ram one door open, one student climbed over his balcony into the room next door.An ambulance carrying
injured people off the campus was attacked by a group of men with sticks while police stood by, according to witnesses.New Delhi Police
Commissioner Amulya Patnaik said the incident was a clash between rival student groups.Image:A room on the campus after the attackBut
opposition parties and injured students blamed the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student organisation linked to prime minister
Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.Rahul Gandhi, a leading politician from the main opposition Congress party said: "The fascists in
control of our nation are afraid of the voices of our brave students
Today's violence in JNU is a reflection of that fear."Students said the masked attackers also entered women's wings in the dorms.History
student Geeta Thatra, 32, said she could see people wearing masks enter the dorms and scream "beat them up".Ms Thatra accused the
administration of giving "free rein" to the attackers.December 2019: Footage of Indian police beating studentsReferring to an incident in
December when police barged inside Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi and tear-gassed students, she said: "We saw the brutal
vandalising at the Jamia University."There they used police to do it and here they have used other forces, the so called mobs, to do
it."Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which includes students at Jawaharlal Nehru University, released a statement saying it did not start
the violence on Sunday and insisted its members were attacked first by students with links to communist groups.Communist-linked student
organisations at the university have led a series of protests against the fee increase which was introduced in November.Image:A protest
against the attacks on students of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityFinance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, a member of the prime
minister's party, condemned the violence, saying on twitter: "Horrifying images from JNU - the place I know - remember was one for fierce
debates - opinions but never violence
I unequivocally condemn the events of today."Amnesty International said the attack was "not an isolated incident and must be seen amidst the
larger pattern of pushback as massive protests continue unabated across the country".Hours after the attack, students across the country
took to the streets to protest against the assault.Indian protesters clash with police over 'anti-Muslim' lawThere have also been protests
in New Delhi over the new citizenship law which entitles non-Muslims who are in the country illegally to citizenship if they can prove they
face religious persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.It applies to Hindus, Christians and other religious
minorities, but not Muslims.Protesters say it is anti-Muslim, may cause mass migration and is an attempt by the government to make India a
Hindu stronghold.At least 14 people have died and more than 4,000 have been arrested following protests across India against the law.
