Provocation by police led students at a Lucknow seminary to resort to massive stone-throwing on Monday, prompting a ban on gatherings across Uttar Pradesh, the closure of colleges and universities, and an Internet suspension in some districts.

Students of the Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, who were protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens, had already been restrained by their teachers when some policemen unnecessarily poked them with their batons through the gate rails.

Over 200 students had stepped out of the 121-year-old seminary, located in the city’s old quarters, around 9am and sat on a dharna at the main gate, chanting slogans.

The police dragged most of them back inside the campus but about a dozen of them came out again and resumed the sit-in protest.

Later, a group of teachers accompanied by seminary principal Saeed-ur-Rahman Nadwi were seen grabbing the protesters by their arms and pulling them back inside the gate. The police locked the gate from outside.

This was when this reporter saw some of the policemen, posted outside, jab the students with their batons through the gate rails. Provoked, the students threw stones at the police for about 15 minutes before the teachers persuaded them to continue their protest peacefully.

Fearing similar student flare-ups elsewhere, the state government blocked Internet services in several districts, banned assemblies of more than four people anywhere, and closed government universities and colleges till January 5, postponing all examinations.

It also asked private campuses to declare an early winter vacation --- which normally starts on December 24 ---- and closed all schools in Aligarh district, where the Aligarh Muslim University witnessed a police raid on Sunday night.

Principal Nadwi said: “The local administration has said the students are free to continue their dharna on the campus. We have persuaded the students to protest peacefully and not to venture on the roads.”

He added that the seminary had been closed till January 5.

Lucknow district magistrate Abhishek Prakash confirmed that no policeman had suffered injuries but said the administration would take legal action against those who had resorted to violence.

“We will identify the rioters with the help of CCTV footage,” he said.

A police source said: “Internet services have been suspended in old Lucknow, Aligarh, Varanasi, Allahabad, Meerut, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Shamli till 10am on Tuesday. Services will resume only after a review of the situation.”

Students protested against the amended citizenship law and the NRC at Banaras Hindu University, Allahabad University and the Darul Uloom Deoband in Saharanpur district. The Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, a socio-political organisation, organised a dharna in Hardoi.

Aligarh district magistrate Chandrabhushan Singh said that Aligarh Muslim University had been asked to remove all the students from its hostels within two days.

On Sunday night, the Rapid Action Force had stormed the AMU campus and used batons and tear gas on the students.

More than two dozen AMU students have been admitted to the trauma centre at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College. The police released the 12 students they had detained on Sunday night.

Singh claimed that at least a dozen policemen had suffered injures at the hands of the AMU students.

State director-general of police Om Prakash Singh said: “We are keeping a close watch on social media. We want to warn rumour-mongers that unless they stop immediately, the police will act against them.”