Lucknow/Karnataka: Mobile internet services and SMS of all mobile service providers have been suspended in Lucknow till December 21 noon, according to an Uttar Pradesh government order. Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi issued an order to this effect late on Thursday night.“The order is effective from 3 pm on December 19 till 12 pm on December 21,” he stated in the order. The decision has been taken in view of violence during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).A 25-year-old man was killed as violence erupted in the state capital and some other parts of UP with protesters, angry over the amended citizenship law, pelting stones at police and torching vehicles.Internet services were also suspended in Sambhal, Aligarh, Mau, Ghaziabad, and Azamgarh districts, even as Section 144 of the CrPC, which bans assembly of people, was already in force in the entire state for several days.The Karnataka government also suspended mobile internet services in Dakshina Kannada district on Thursday night for the next 48 hours after two persons were killed in police firing during violent protests in Mangaluru against the citizenship law.Also read: Post CAA, BJP-Linked WhatsApp Groups Mount a Campaign to Foment CommunalismThe decision to suspend the internet from 10 pm was taken in order to prevent misuse of social media platforms to disturb peace and tranquillity, and for maintaining the law-and-order situation, according to a notification.The decision was taken on the request of the state police chief. Police have also clamped curfew in parts of the city till Sunday midnight.Police lobbed tear gas shells, resorted to baton charge and fired in the air to disperse people protesting against the amended Citizenship Act in Mangaluru.Police sources said protesters attempted to lay siege to the Mangalore North police station and tried to attack police personnel, following which force was used to disperse them.Two persons received bullet injuries in police firing and they later succumbed to a hospital, the police said.According to the notification, the Mangalore police commissioner has informed that incidents involving violation of Section 144 had been reported in different parts of Mangaluru and there were probabilities of more such incidents, which may adversely affect the law-and-order situation.The commissioner has also informed that were incidents of vandalism and arson.
