People of the Assamese community in Melbourne, Australia staged protest against the amended Citizenship Act outside the Indian Consulate in Melbourne on December 19th, 2019.
The Assamese community people in Melbourne demanded revocation of the newly enacted Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) as it “threatens the linguistic and cultural identity of the Assamese people in Assam”.
“We held a meeting inside the Indian Consulate and have spoken about our concern regarding the CAA as an Assamese. We also presented a memorandum with our signatures to the Indian Consulate, which they will forward to the Ministry of external affairs,” said a protester.
“We have spoken about Assam Accord and the martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the Assam Movement. The CAA is against the Assam Accord,” added a protester.
Violent protests erupted in Assam after the Rajya Sabha passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on December 11th, 2019. The streets of the state turned into a veritable battle zone littered with burnt tyres, logs, stones, rubber pellets and teargas shells as seething protesters descended on the streets opposing the Bill.
“We raised our concern about our indigenous language, culture and heritage. Our protest is not against any religion and we are not motivated by any political thoughts. We have come together to protest this new citizenship law because we believe that it will harm Assam. Curfew has been imposed, internet shutdown and young protesters are being killed…this is a matter of serious concern,” further added a protester.
Photo: @paragmoniaditya
