afp | As Indian protests
against a new citizenship law have intensified, so has police use of
"lathis", sturdy sticks used to whack, thwack and quell dissent since
British colonial times -- to sometimes deadly effect.
At least 27
people have died in the past two weeks of protests, mostly from bullets,
but hundreds more have been injured in clashes between demonstrators
and riot police wielding the bamboo canes.
Images shot by AFP and other media of officers hitting
people with them, in some cases apparently indiscriminately lashing out
at passers-by and even minors, has only fuelled public anger.
One
video of a group of Muslim women in New Delhi protecting a cowering male
fellow student from a police lathi barrage spread like wildfire on
social media in India.
Those who have
experienced a blow from a lathi, measuring five or six feet (1.5-1.8
metres) and made of stout bamboo or plastic, say it leaves a numbing
sensation that lasts for days.
Multiple strikes can break bones, cripple and even kill.
"From being used as means to regulate crowds, lathi has
turned into a lethal weapon," said V. Suresh, the secretary general of
the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a non-profit rights
group.
"It is... being freely used, so much so that as a country
we have become inured to it. Lathi is seen as a normal but it is a
horrible weapon," Suresh told AFP.
"Nothing legitimises its brutal use."
- Fear and awe -
Many
believe the lathi originated as a martial arts accessory in South Asia.
It was also used by feudal landlords against poor peasants, emerging as
a symbol of unquestioned power and authority.
