Demonstrators clashed with police for a third day in Delhi on Dec. 17 as protests against a divisive citizenship law spread to universities across the country, raising fears of widespread unrest.

Rights activists and Christian leaders say the protests began to spread after the federal government led by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempted to crush peaceful opposition to the discriminatory law.

“The protests by students in many universities indicate the great worries among the people. Students are the antenna and the conscience of the people, and future decision-makers,” said the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), a Protestant Church Group, in a Dec. 16 statement.