Thread by @thecaravanindia

#DelhiViolence | One year ago, northeast Delhi was engulfed in communal violence. It continued for over three days, killing at least 53 people. Forty of them were Muslim.

A thread of The Caravan’s ground reports documenting the violence:

Replug | “At around 1–1.30 pm, a right-wing Hindu mob of around two hundred men arrived near the protest site, carrying stones and chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram!’ We could see that they were with the police—we were on a rooftop, from where we were covering this.” bit.ly/3dEvcCm

Replug | The stick-wielding CAA supporters at Babarpur said they had no idea about the CAA and said they were out on the street because they did not like the “Muslim” anti-CAA protesters of Jaffrabad and Shaheen Bagh. bit.ly/2TEHD6T

Replug | The anti-CAA protest tents had been burnt to cinders, a car behind the site was still burning, sections of the railing on the road divider had been uprooted, smoke billowed out of a burning brown tempo truck on the road. bit.ly/2vizxHw

Replug | Mohammad Iqrar, who lives next door to the Alvis, said that the entire neighbourhood was awash with shock and grief. “We didn’t even have time to commiserate because everyone was holed up inside their homes throughout the night," Iqrar said. bit.ly/32v3uAn

Replug | “Initially, only those injured in stone pelting were coming, but all of a sudden, people with bullet wounds began coming in,” Meharban, a photojournalist, said. “Soon, only people with bullet injuries began coming in.”

#DelhiViolence bit.ly/3bxxws6

Replug | “The mosque was not even 30 metres away. On the road, I could see members of a mob, armed with sticks and iron rods. I gathered courage and passed through them. Throughout that walk, I kept trying to conceal my beard with my hands.”

Parijat in: bit.ly/39byWGs

Replug | Gokalpuri's upper-caste locals said they found themselves naturally aligned with the BJP and the Delhi Police because they believed that only these two organisations had “protected the Hindus” during the violence.

#DelhiViolence bit.ly/2OSdjWi

Replug | Imran said he was standing right outside his house at around 5 pm on 25 February, when he was shot in his thighs. “The situation in Mustafabad is that we are not even safe in our homes,” he said.

@rag_ps reports: bit.ly/2VxLDqY

#DelhiViolence

Replug | The stories of the displaced Muslim residents’ struggle to reach a place of safety and the Al Hind administration’s determination to accommodate them give a glimpse into the desperate circumstances of the victims of the #DelhiViolence. bit.ly/2I8hpTA

Replug | “There is no humanity left,” Zubair's brother, Khalid, said of the attack and its now-iconic image, his voice trembling. “You don’t even slaughter animals like that.”

Vaibhav Vats writes: bit.ly/38bQIIq

#DelhiViolence

Replug | Muslim residents of Khajoori Khas and its neighbouring areas believed that the media’s reportage on the murder of Ankit Sharma was intentionally distorted to project the Muslims of the area as “aggressors” and portray the Hindus as “victims.” bit.ly/2IhsQIS

Replug | The situation on the ground is really pathetic,” Kurian Joseph, a former Supreme Court judge, said as he walked out of a government-run relief camp run at the Eidgah grounds, in Mustafabad.

Sagar reports: bit.ly/3cGCimO

#DelhiViolence

Replug | Tahir said the uniformed attackers beat everyone they could get a hold of. “We told them we are calling for Hindu-Muslim unity, but they didn’t stop,” he said. “Even when I had almost fainted, they kept beating me.”

#DelhiViolence bit.ly/338xIcN

Replug | In some instances, the Delhi Police would lock down police stations where the detained men were being held; and information was being shared with pro-establishment media houses even before the families were informed. bit.ly/2vZM9Uv

Replug | The locals of Subhash Mohalla used to frequent the Masjid Hazrat Umar Farooq, which is a little ahead of the locality, near Ghonda Chowk. At some point during the two-day rampage, the mosque was also vandalised.

@DharaShukoh reports: bit.ly/2vX1vsQ

Replug | “In all four directions, parts of human bodies were lying around. Someone’s hand, someone’s leg, someone’s fingers were lying around here and there. There was blood spilled all around. I was myself soaked in blood from top to bottom.” bit.ly/38WBXcG

Replug | Announcements were instructing the crowd to boycott media houses. “Do not talk to the media. We got to know that Aaj Tak is running some false news.” The announcements continued, “but let Zee News and Republic TV come in, they are ours.” bit.ly/2UFvsWv

Replug | During the initial spate of violence, Muslim residents of northeastern Delhi repeatedly recalled the ineffectuality of calling the police, who either did not respond, stood by passively, or, in some cases, actively participated in the violence. bit.ly/2ypj99x