UP police to fire dyed water cannons at protesters; will mark agitators

Lucknow: In view of violent protests in Uttar Pradesh against Citizenship Act and the proposed National Citizenship Register, the police is taking all measures to stop ruckus in the state.

In order to identify the agitators who are vandalizing properties and disrupting law and order of the state, will now be fired with dyed-water cannons.

The colored liquid will mark the demonstrators who will defy a police ban or indulge into a violent protest.

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To confirm the identity of miscreants in the future, the state police will now use red-color dyed water cannons to control riots. As the ink is hard to wash-off ( just like the one used to mark fingers during Polls), when mixed with water it will leave marks on the miscreants that could not be washed-off for four to five days. The colour would stick and no matter where they run to, the agitators could be identified.

This ink has already been used in Jammu and Kashmir to identify the pickets.

The protest movement grew out of rallies against the controversial Citizenship Act has at least taken 19 lives while left hundreds injured. Nearly 1,100 have been detained under various charges.

The violent protests started on December 19 from the capital city of UP, Lucknow and spread to many districts of the state. The UP police has identified the miscreants through CCTV footage and have placed their photographs on the main crossroads of the districts.

Apart from this, to recover the loss incurred in riots and violence, the Yogi government has sent notice to many involved in the aggressive demonstration. However, this action is also being disputed and is being called as an unilateral action of the government.

The use of colored water cannons, however, has been questioned in many countries and has now been discontinued after protest arose regarding the use of chemicals in the water.

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