A police crackdown and panic over the proposed National Register of Citizens have affected a celebrated way of life in Lucknow.

The century-old restaurants in Old Lucknow bear the most visible marks.

It was already 3.30pm when this correspondent caught up with the owner of one of these restaurants after he had taken his seat behind the counter, over six hours later than his usual routine.

Asked why he was so late, the owner smiled. “Khatra samne hai, na dekh pae to hamari samasya hai (The danger is there before us, it is our fault if we cannot see it).

“Mohammad Laeek was picked up from here because he had openly declared he would get a birth certificate by bribing a private hospital,” the owner said, adding he didn’t want to open his restaurant. “But the police forced us to open it so they can say everything is normal in the area.”

Laeek was arrested on Saturday while he was standing with some others near Ek Minar Masjid near Akbari Gate.

Kalanidhi Naithani, senior superintendent of police, Lucknow, said: “Laeek was wanted for his involvement in violence on December 19.”

The proposed citizens’ register has got employees worried, too.

“The situation is such that we keep searching our homes for documents that can help us prove we were born here and are citizens of India. The problem is we were not born in a hospital. Even in case of a birth in a hospital, which is the case with my eight-year-old son, we didn’t know we should keep that record with us,” said a 40-year-old waiter.

“We are busy every day till 3pm collecting our documents and then reach the restaurant. The owner too does the same, leaving a few workers to manage the restaurant when he is away,” said another waiter.

Food lovers, too, fear going to restaurants for their favourite nihari, stew of slow-cooked meat at Raheem, or kebabs from the original Tunday near Akbari Gate in old Lucknow.

Uttar Pradesh has suffered the highest number of casualties in the protests that have mushroomed in several parts of the country.

Few patrons visited the restaurants in Phool Wali Gali on Thursday and Friday and only a dozen mustered up enough courage on Saturday to pamper their taste buds.

“Only a few people have dared to come here since Saturday following the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens,” said a waiter at one of these restaurants while blaming the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath administration in Uttar Pradesh for the mess.

The usual footfall at these joints is between 500 and 600 every day, mostly in the evenings.

Zulfiqar Ahmad, 50, a resident of the incomplete heritage structure Satkhanda, said he knew thousands in old Lucknow who were now frantically knocking on hospitals and municipal offices in their search for a birth certificate.

“We don’t have any reason to believe that the NRC will not be rolled out across the country,” Zulfiqar said.

Satkhanda is where Vakil Ahmad, a 25-year-old auto driver, had died of bullet injuries during a protest on Thursday.

Zulfiqar said the protest had started at Parivartan Chawk but the police and the Rapid Action Force baton-charged people near Satkhanda and Akbari Gate too, over 4km away, only because the two areas have a substantial minority population.

Parivartan Chawk, which connects new and old Lucknow and the areas around Satkhanda and Akbari Gate, bustled with life on Tuesday as people stepped out of their homes to buy items of everyday need. But none stopped long enough for conversations anywhere, with Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in place.

The provision disallows gatherings of five or more people at a place and policemen deployed in the area made sure no one loitered, telling people to keep moving.

“The markets are opening like a normal day as there is peace everywhere in the state capital. Prohibitory orders are still there in the city and Internet connections would be restored on Wednesday after a review of the situation,” SSP Naithani said.

In Lucknow, 120 people have been arrested and 81 FIRs have been registered against protesters.

After linking Malda and Kashmir with last week’s violence in Lucknow, the police have now claimed a Kerala connection to the protest at Parivartan Chawk.

“We have arrested Mohammad Ashfaq, divisional president of the Popular Front of India; Waseem Ahmad, its state chief, and Mohamad Nadeem, its treasurer. They had formed many WhatsApp groups and were provoking people to reach Parivartan Chawk on December 19. We have recovered 26 placards, 29 flags, 100 pamphlets and 36 newspaper clippings from their house. It substantiates our claim that they were behind the violence on Thursday,” said Abhay Mishra, circle officer, Hazratganj police station.