Lucknow, Dec 26 (IANS): Nine districts of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday faced another spell of internet shutdown for the next 24 hours.

The districts where internet services have been blacked out are Bijnor, Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagar, Agra, Firozabad, Sambhal, Aligarh, Kanpur and Ghaziabad.

The internet shutdown is a preventive measure in view of Friday prayers and possible protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Internet connectivity has already been suspended in nine districts and more districts may be included in the list from Friday morning, sources said.

Additional Director General, Law and Order, P.V. Ramasastry said: "We have deployed security personnel in different districts of the state and held talks with the local people. Internet services have been suspended in some districts for a day, and we are closely monitoring content on social media."

Violence broke out in many parts of the state between December 19 and 21, claiming as many as 21 lives.

Although many of the bodies bore gunshot wounds, the state police insisted that they did not shoot anything other than plastic pellets and rubber bullets. They have owned up to opening fire only at Bijnore, where a 20-year-old civil services aspirant was killed.

In an attempt to justify its action, the state police has released a series of photographs and videos showing two men firing at cops during protests against the controversial law.

Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma claimed that the police had also suffered heavy losses and 288 policemen were injured in violence that erupted across 21 districts.