New Delhi: Protests broke out across several parts of central Delhi Friday evening as student organisations and protesters took to the streets, waving the Tricolour and raising slogans despite heavy police deployment and restrictions on gatherings.
Simultaneously, AISA president Neha Bora said the organisation would begin a march from Mandi House at 5 pm. Around 6.30 pm, protest activity shifted to Janpath, where members of AISA and other Left-leaning student organisations gathered with placards, raising slogans. At 5 pm, as CP remained under heavy police watch, small groups of people carrying the Tricolour began gathering outside Palika Bazaar. Despite the heavy deployment, police did not intervene or take action against those gathered till around 6.30 pm, when they started asking them to leave. For Jharia (59), a trader at the Palika Bazaar roundabout, the issue was personal. Mumaina (73), an All India Democratic Women’s Association activist who had been detained on Oct 10, returned despite the prospect of another crackdown. Sana (32), a model, was standing nearby. “I am back despite being badly beaten up by police on July 20 and Oct 10.
It’s our democratic right,” he said. Demanding that SIR be revoked, he said the protest was directed at EC and not any political party. “I have witnessed many protests in my life, but I have never been handled by police the way I was last Saturday,” she said. They pushed us out of Jantar Mantar, so we have taken to the streets,” she said.
Bora, accompanied by other AISA representatives and members of Left-affiliated groups, began marching, at one point breaking into a run. However, they were intercepted by police. Bora was surrounded by women constables, who struggled to escort her to a police vehicle amid pushing and jostling as she was being detained. A different scene was unfolding a few kilometres away. A group of traders also reached the bazaar and raised slogans protesting against alleged losses owing to the protests. Some people, including members of student organisation Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), marched along Inner Circle, raising slogans, while others posed for photographs with the national flag, marking their participation in the ongoing movement. Central Park remained out of bounds for protesters. Ten minutes later, the protesters started dispersing. Among the agitators was Ishan, a Hindu College student, who held the Tricolour aloft as he walked through the area. “Several students from our college are here. I don’t understand how govt can deny people the right to protest. His son’s and daughter’s names had been deleted from the electoral rolls. Standing with friends holding a banner against the CEC, he asked, “ Koi inhe bataye ki vote katne se kya dukh hota hai ?