BENGALURU: A motley group of protestors displayed patriotic fervour to exercise their right to protest at Town Hall in Bengaluru on Saturday. A group of around 100 people gathered at Town Hall at 7pm to read the Constitution. They planned to hold the protest until 10 pm, but were being asked to disperse by the police.
Police claimed the group was denied permission because they did not follow procedure such as signing an undertaking to not breach the peace, informing the police of the number of people to attend, and the organisers’ name.
“They were stubborn and refused to give details. So I had rejected their application. We are ready to support people but they too need to take some responsibility,” Chetan Singh Rathore, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) said.
Getting a whiff of what the cops were about to do, a few people within the group started singing the national anthem. But it didn’t stop there. The crowd sang the anthem three times in a row, forcing the cops to stand in attention. “We were about to sing again so they wouldn’t chase us away. But that’s when they grabbed all of us and pushed us away. The inspector was swearing and using abusive words at women,” a protestor said.
“Usually, protestors sing once and then they disperse. But here, they kept on singing and misusing it,” said Tanveer Ahmed, police inspector.