Protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that began from Wasseypur on Thursday with a dharna, intensified on Friday when another group of around 150 youths took out a rally from Ara Mor of Wasseypur to Rangatand Chowk after Friday prayers, around 2.30pm.

Protesting youths held placards, banners and posters bearing slogans like Yeh dharm ki nahi, haq ki ladai hai; If the deaf are to hear the sound has to be very loud (a quote of Bhagat Singh); We reject NRC-CAA, Humne sarkar chuni, sarkar ne humen nahin, hum hai to sarkar hai; Hum paper se Hindustani nahi, khoon se Hindustani hain. The youths also shouted slogans like “Save Constitution-reject CAA” and “Hume chahiye CAA se azadi”.

The protest march continued till Shramik Chowk, some 4km from Ara Mor.

The indefinite dharna at Wasseypur near SBI Loan branch on Thursday saw over 100 new participants, including 50 girls and women, joining on the second day (on Friday). But those staging the dharna distanced themselves from the group of youths who took out the rally.

Talking to The Telegraph, Irfan Alam, one of the social activists who sat on dharna said: “We will continue with our peaceful dharna till the government rolls back the laws. We feel these laws won’t do any good to the nation, rather they are divisive.”

“Such is the anger among people regarding the controversial laws that over 50 women joined our peaceful dharna today (Friday),” Alam added.