Many in the far-flung, resource-rich region fear the new legislation will grant citizenship to large numbers of immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, who they accuse of stealing jobs and diluting the region's cultural identity.
Hundreds of protesters rallied in the capital New Delhi Saturday, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to revoke the law that they said would "divide our secular country on religious lines".
Protests took a violent turn in West Bengal state, where a portion of a railway station complex was set on fire. Burning tyres were thrown on rail tracks and key roads blocked by slogan-chanting protesters.
Tensions simmered in Guwahati in Assam state, the epicentre of the unrest, where medical staff said two people were shot dead and 26 hospitalised late Thursday after security forces fired live rounds.
Friday's funeral procession of 18-year-old Sam Stafford, who was killed in the firing, was attended by hundreds of angry and distraught mourners who shouted, "long live Assam".
"We were watching news all day on TV about the protests when my nephew left home in the evening. We asked him not to go but he went with his friends," the student's aunt Julie Stafford told AFP.
Anticipating further unrest, authorities extended an internet ban across Assam till Monday. Most shops were shut and anxious residents stocked up supplies Saturday when the curfew was relaxed during the day.
The Citizenship Amendment Act allows for the fast-tracking of applications from religious minorities including Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but not Muslims.
Samujjal Bhattacharya from the All Assam Students Union, which has been at the forefront of the protests, told AFP the group would continue its fight against the new law "in the streets and in the court".
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