Lucknow: Locals warm protesters' hearts with food, blankets

LUCKNOW: As cold winds swept the city on Saturday evening, the crowd of protesters agitating against the new citizenship law at Husainabad's Clock Tower had some unexpected visitors - a Sikh family bearing food packets and water bottles.
On Sunday, more help poured in as Samaritans came with blankets, shawls, food and fruit juice for protesters. As the protest at Clock Tower entered its third day, the number of families - who didn't join the protest, but came forward to help the protesters - coming to the venue only increased.
Around 10.30pm, Preetpal Singh came with his wife and two daughters and left past midnight after distributing food packets and water bottles."When I told my wife about the protest in Husainabad, she decided to extend a helping hand. We were initially stopped by the police from going near the protesters and were even asked why we were there. Police let us go after we told them that we were there to provide them with food and water. When we reached the Clock Tower, we got to know that many of the protesters had been thirsty since hours as there was no arrangement for water," said Singh, a city-based businessman.
"We have a large group and many others from the Sikh community wish to lend support," he added.