NEW DELHI: Torched car, vandalised vehicles, shards of glass, broken sticks, and dozens of footwear bore the look of a war zone. By 6.30 pm, the damp road at Daryaganj was being manned by a huge posse of police and RAF who were rushed in when a protest spiralled out of control on Friday evening.
Protesters in central Delhi’s Delhi Gate area were driven away by police that retaliated to stone-pelting with water cannons and lathi-charge at a huge demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. Earlier in the day, hundreds of people gathered at Jama Masjid to walk towards Jantar Mantar in protest against the “unconstitutional and dictatorial” Act, but were stopped by police at Delhi Gate, right outside Daryaganj Police Station and the office of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central).
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Police blockaded roads in and around the Walled City whose residents were joined by men from Ghaziabad, Loni and various parts of the capital.
At Jama Masjid, the protesters offered Friday prayers. About 4 pm, the protesters took off their shoes and offered namaz at Delhi Gate on the roads in front of and near Nabi Bakhsh Masjid. After the namaz, the Imam leading the prayers, made multiple appeals to people to return homes.
“Police apna kaam kar rahi hai. Shanti banaye rakhne mein unka sehyog kijiye. Apne apne gharon ko laut jaaiye. (Police are doing their job. Cooperate with them in maintaining peace. Return home),” he announced. And in a while, the protesters started dispersing.
About 200 were left behind when suddenly hundreds joined them from Seelampur area, where violence erupted on Friday afternoon, two days after about 20 men, including police, were injured in stone-pelting.
The protest resumed at Daryaganj and turned violent after the protesters offered prayers for the second time on the road.
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They started pelting stones at police. Retaliatory action followed and police arrested over 40 protesters.
Before violence flared up, there were endearing moments like Delhi Police spokesperson MS Randhawa allowing protesters to continue with their demonstration; people offering biscuits to police; a few women coming ahead and asking policemen to “join the demonstration for the future of your country”.
‘Ready to die but not ready to accept CAB’; ‘Don’t be silent. Don’t be violent. Boycott CAA’; ‘We condemn communal law’; ‘Emergency 2.0 CAA + NRC’; No NRC, No CAA; ‘If India is not secular then it’s not India’ — read their posters.
With the tricolour in their hands, the protesters raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. ‘Dilli police, saath chalo’; ‘Ekta ka raj chalega, Hindu Muslim saath rahega’ were heard apart from the chants of ‘Azadi’ and ‘Halla Bol’. But all was lost in a little over half an hour, replaced by shadows of policemen marching on the road.
Massive snarls due to multiple protests
New Delhi: The national capital reeled under massive traffic jams due to multiple protests, with thousands of people hitting the streets forcing police to put restrictions on vehicle movements. Roads leading to Jama Masjid, Daryaganj, Delhi Gate, India Gate, Jamia Millia Islamia, Seelampur, Seemapuri, Jafrabad and Jantar Mantar were put under traffic restrictions.
Give nod to peaceful protest: Panel to L-G
New Delhi: The Delhi Minorities Commission has written to the Lt. Governor Anil Baijal requesting him to allow people to demonstrate peacefully. The Commission urged the L-G that the police must not interfere unless and until a protest and demonstration becomes “violent”. It said that the attacks by the police on protesters were a direct attack on democratic and civil rights protected by the Constitution.
Viral video leads cops to injured protester
New Delhi: A video of a man injuring his hand while hurling a petrol bomb at cops in Seelampur went viral and landed him in the police’s net. In the video, the man is seen lighting a petrol bomb to hurl at the cops, but, instead it explodes in his hand. As per sources, the explosion left the man seriously injured and he was admitted to GTB hospital in east Delhi. Later, police arrested him from the hospital