But that quickly changed when a young man brandishing a rudimentary pistol appeared on the road between around 1,000 protesters and dozens of riot police facing them. “As the protests started, there was no immediate threat so I was moving towards the police line and it was just like a regular day,” said Danish Siddiqui, Reuters’ chief photographer in India who took several pictures of the gunman. One close-up photograph captures the man pointing the gun towards protesters as he steps backwards. Modi has rejected the protests, and members of his party and its affiliates have painted the protesters as anti-nationals. Following the shooting, the number of protesters swelled to several thousand, and scuffles between them and several hundred police officers broke out.

Source: National Post January 30, 2020 18:33 UTC