On Sunday, police smashed their way into the main library of #JamiaMilliaIslamia, firing tear gas shells as terrified students barricaded doors and hid inside bathrooms to protect themselves.
Video footage shot by a student inside the library and reviewed by Reuters shows dozens of young students - including several women - scrambling for cover, cowering beneath desks, and jumping over metal and broken glass dividers as they attempted to flee.
My colleagues @sankalp_sp@aftabahmed00 and @zebatweets also spoke to several students trapped inside the campus to piece together what happened.
“There were continuous sounds of tear gas,” one student told us. “They were just beating any students they saw so cruelly.”
Police said some vandals did manage to enter Jamia and officers only followed them into the campus after they were pelted with stones from inside the university.
But a university official told Reuters there were only students inside when police started firing tear gas.
On Monday, sections of university library lay in ruins. Windows were smashed, chairs lay broken and scattered. Crushed glass covered corridors and tables.
Reuters witnesses saw tear gas shells and blood splattered on the library floor. Two surveillance cameras lay smashed.
With tear gas canisters exploding inside, second-year student Mohammad Shahzad said some ran to the washrooms to hide or wash their eyes with water.
“But police dragged them out and beat them up,” he said.
Some bathroom doors inside the library building lay smashed on Monday.
Hisham Siddiqui, a doctorate student, said he was inside a mosque on the university campus when more than a dozen police burst in.
“They smashed the glass doors and entered inside,” he said, heavily bandaged and seated in a wheelchair outside Alshifa hospital on Sunday night.
AstraZeneca/Covishield accounts for nearly 90% of the 257.5 million vaccine doses administered in India.
So rolling it out efficiently and quickly is key to controlling the pandemic, especially with a dangerous variant already moving around.
In closing, this appears to be further proof that the Indian govt may not be fully listening to scientific advice.
Earlier today, @zebatweets & I reported that the govt missed an early alarm on the B.1.617 variant in March, leading to its rampant spread. reuters.com/business/healt…
The #COVID19 Delta variant is now all over the world.
This is the story of how it all began in a rural Indian district in Feb - and how the Modi govt missed an early alarm, leading to the variant's spread.
- Top govt officials including Dr VK Paul were warned by a veteran public health expert of a possible variant
- Govt officials played down the possibility of a variant in a private meeting & in public
- Large gatherings like elections continued despite the alarm
The variant - B.1.617 - triggered a catastrophic wave of coronavirus cases in India.
Within around 80 days, it went from first ravaging Amravati district in India's Maharashtra to dozens of countries around the world, presenting a setback to global efforts to contain the virus.
@krishnadas56 and I spoke to around a dozen scientists and officials to piece together the events that led up to India's massive second surge in COVID-19 cases.
We found that the govt had some early warnings but didn't act quickly.
The farmers have stopped just ahead of the Outer Ring Road. A number of them want to go straight. A large contingent of police, backed by water cannons and tear gas launchers, are imploring them to go right, as per a planned route.
Stalemate.
Police and protestors have since scuffled, with police firing several rounds of tear gas to unsuccessfully hold the crowds back.
Concrete barricades and containers have been removed by protestors, and a large group has marched on to the ring road.
This is Pendajam, a tiny tribal hamlet in the south Odisha highlands that is home to Reena Jani, a 34-year-old ASHA worker, who was among the first wave of Indians to be vaccinated against COVID-19 earlier this month.
Jani woke up early on Jan 16, finished her chores, checked on a nearby pregnant woman and then sat pillion on a neighbor’s bike to reach the vaccination centre.
This is what her ride to Mathalput Community Health Centre looked ride.