Petrol bombs were hurled near the protest site at Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi, the incident coming on the 99th day of the sit-in against the citizenship matrix.

No one was injured in the Sunday morning incident.

Unidentified miscreants lobbed bombs about 100m from the tent on an outer barricade and a shop that was shut before slipping away.

There are three layers of barricades between security forces and the protest site on the stretch of road connecting Delhi to Noida.

Confirming the incident in a statement later, the protesters said an attempt was made to violently disrupt the protests.

“We are enraged and deeply saddened by the continuing spate of violent attacks on our protest and community at large. Our resolve and courage has been tested throughout the course of this 100-day resistance, yet we stand here — undeterred and untired,” the statement said.

Measures to combat Covid-19 at site

On Saturday night, after much deliberation, the women of Shaheen Bagh had decided to continue their protest despite the call of “janata curfew” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.

As the cases of the coronavirus infection increases in the country, Shaheen Bagh protests have become a point of debate on whether the protest should continue.

A day earlier, a protest at Jamia Millia Islamia was temporarily suspended amid growing scare of the pandemic. The protests by Jamia students had started before the Shaheen Bagh protest in mid-December.

On Saturday, the protesters at Shaheen Bagh announced several preventive measures at the site, including stopping people from bringing their children, periodic sanitising of the site, restricting sick people from attending and consulting health workers.

“In line with the state (government’s) directives issued to contain the #COVID 19 threat facing our nation, we bravely continue our protest today with only 5 women protesters marking their resistance on behalf of all of us,” the statement added.