At least three persons were killed on Thursday after police in the BJP-ruled states of Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh fired teargas shells and lathi-charged peaceful protests against the amended citizenship law.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan pointed out that the “bulk of the protests across the country were totally peaceful” and that “violence takes place only in a few places ruled by the BJP”. He alleged in a tweet that “violence suits the BJP to discredit this mass uprising”.

At coastal Mangalore in Karnataka, two protesters — Jaleel, 49, and Nausheen, 23 — succumbed to injuries suffered in police action, a senior police officer said. The officer, who spoke on the strict condition of anonymity, did not reveal the cause of death.

Sources claimed Jaleel and Nausheen had suffered bullet injuries when the police fired at protesters. The officer refused to specify the “police action” but said the protesters were “10 minutes from setting fire to the local police station”.

A curfew has been imposed on the five police station areas of Mangalore city, where the protesters had turned violent after the police had fired tear-gas shells and resorted to a lathicharge. Protesters wearing helmets threw stones at the police.

In Uttar Pradesh, a youth was fatally injured in violence that erupted in Lucknow when the police caned a peaceful march and also fired tear gas.

Mohammad Vakil, 25, died in hospital of what his friends said was a bullet injuryduring the protest at Parivartan Chowk. The police denied opening fire. Three other protesters were grievously hurt.