At least 11 people, including an 8-year-old boy, have lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh of India as the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act turned violent in the state, officials said on Saturday.

Four deaths were reported from Meerut district, while the boy lost his life in a stampede in Varanasi when a violent mob was being chased by police personnel, they said.

After Friday prayers, six people were killed as protesters clashed with the police at several places in the state. They hurled stones and torched vehicles, the officials said

There have been reports of firing on police personnel deployed to maintain law and order, they said.

Six policemen also received bullet injuries in various parts of the state, they said, adding the condition of one policeman continued to be critical.

Violence during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests has so far claimed lives in Bijnor, Sambhal, Ferozabad, Kanpur, Varanasi and Meerut in the state.

Violent anti-CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh

Several places in Uttar Pradesh witnessed violent protests against the newly amended Citizenship Act on Friday. Protesters hurled stones and torched vehicles in parts of Uttar Pradesh during anti-CAA protests.

Lucknow, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Sambhal were some of the areas that were worst-hit by the anti-CAA protests.

Mobile internet services remain suspended in Aligarh, Mau, Azamgarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Sambhal and Allahabad in view of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Stone-pelting or more serious clashes with police were also reported from Bhadohi, Bahraich, Amroha, Farurukhabad, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Hapur, Hathras, Bulandshahr, Hamirpur, and Mahoba districts.

At many places, police used lathis, lobbed tear-gas shells and, according to some officials, rubber bullets when they failed to contain angry mobs.

Police targeted

Police were often targeted when they stopped people from taking out processions in defiance of prohibitory orders in places all over the state.

At least six vehicles, including those of police, were set ablaze in Ferozabad, forcing police to use tear-gas shells to disperse the mobs.

Half a dozen vehicles, mostly of policemen, were also torched in Kanpur’s Babupurwa area and six people were hurt in the city, Additional DG (Kanpur zone) Prem Prakash said.

He said 10 people allegedly involved in arson and stone-pelting were arrested.

In Meerut’s Islamabad locality, protesters targeted a police post, setting fire to some furniture and a motorcycle parked nearby.

Internet services were suspended across major cities in Uttar Pradesh, following state government orders.

These included Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Agra, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Mathura, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Bareli, Ferozabad, Pilibhit, Rampur, Saharanpur, Shamli, Sambhal, Amroha, Mau, Azamgarh and Sultanpur.