Important to note: What I saw outside #UPBhawan today was dramatic, but it was nothing compared to the kinds of police brutality happening in Uttar Pradesh right now, or what happened at #JamiaMilliaIslamia and #AligarhMuslimUniversity University on Dec 15. (1/7)
I wrote about all of that for the @latimes yesterday. What I saw today was “just” aggressive handling of protestors - not, as has been the case the crackdowns I’ve written about, the use of batons, teargas, guns, and in reportedly even stun grenades. (2/7) latimes.com/world-nation/s…
This is Rohool Banka (@rohool_banka) after the crackdown at #JamiaMilliaIslamia on Dec 15. A 25-year-old Kashmiri Muslim, he told me that when police stormed the library he was studying in, he tried to pretend he was Hindu. That’s the only way he thought he’d survive. (3/7) 
“In the name of God, let me go,” he told the police — but he intentionally used a word Hindus use for God, Bhagwan, instead of Allah. Banka and other students said officers told them to recite the kalima — a statement of faith in Islam, often said before one dies (4/7)
Banka was not even involved in the nearby protest against #CAA_NRC - he was just studying in the library for a post-grad interview. But he says 40-50 police officers beat him, and threw him like a “sack of potatoes” onto a pile of students. (5/7)
In Uttar Pradesh, at least 17 people and over 5000 detained have been killed as police have cracked down on Muslim areas, beating kids & vandalizing homes. There have also been wide scale internet shutdowns for a week. Among those killed was 20-year-old Mohammad Suleman (6/7)
Link to the full story is earlier in this thread. If you’re in LA, you can also pick up a copy of today’s @latimes (7/7)
