Hours after violent protests against the amended citizenship law rocked Lucknow and some other parts of Uttar Pradesh, state police chief OP Singh assured that the situation has been brought under control and the focus now was to maintain peace during Friday prayers.
The director general of police said the force fired tea-gas shells to contain the situation in Lucknow and Sambhal, where demonstrators indulged in arson and hurled stones on policemen.
"The situation is normal in the entire state and our priority is to maintain law and order," he said.
Officials were examining CCTV footage and those who damaged public properties will not be spared, he told reporters.
Asked if there was an intelligence failure about the possibility of violence in Lucknow, Singh said, "Our focus, at present, is to maintain law and order and ensure peace during Friday prayers tomorrow. We will see this later."
Asked if he senses a conspiracy behind the violence, the DGP said a probe may reveal the truth.
A dozen vehicles were damaged and 18 policemen injured during the protests in the state. While 16 policemen, two senior officials, were injured in Lucknow, two were injured in Sambhal, according to an official statement.
Over 112 persons have been detained in connection with the violence and legal action is underway against them. In the entire state, 3,305 persons were taken under preventive detention, it said.
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