NEW DELHI: Delhi Police detained around 60 people near Shaheedi Park at Delhi Gate on Saturday for allegedly holding a protest in support of the ‘chakka jam’ call given by the farmers. Most of the people detained were students from the JNU and DU’s School of Open Learning (SOL) as well as members of All India Student Association (AISA), International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and All India United Trade Union Centre (AICTU).
Farmer unions had announced a countrywide ‘chakka jam’ on Saturday during which they would block national and state highways between 12 noon and 3 pm. However, they had said they will not block roads in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. “The permission to conduct a protest was rejected... Despite that, around 60 persons gathered at the Shaheedi Park and wanted to take out a march till ITO.
The police detained all the protestors and cleared the site,” said Jasmeet Singh, DCP, Central District. A case for conducting protest without permission and violating the Covid-19 rules and Disease Act may be slapped on the protesters, said the official. To prevent gathering and people from joining the protest, the Delhi Police also instructed the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to close about 10 metro stations.
The DMRC closed 10 stations on the Yellow and Violent Line including Mandi House, ITO, Khan Market, Nehru Place, Vishwavidyalaya, Lal Quila, Jama Masjid, Janpath and Central Secretariat for a few hours. Earlier, the Delhi Police detained IFTU National Treasurer and Delhi President Animesh Das at 5 am from his house in CR Park. He was kept at the Govindpuri Police Station to prevent him from attending the protest at Shaheedi Park, said the All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS).
AIKMS also alleged that the police detained Pragatisheel Mahila Sanghathan General Secretary Poonam at her house. They were later released. “AIKMS has denounced Delhi police for detaining several leaders of the ‘Delhi for Farmers’ forum which has announced support for farmers’,” said Ashish Mittal, AIKMS.
About 50,000 personnel from Delhi Police, paramilitary, Rapid Action Force (RAF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and other security forces staff were deployed across the Delhi-NCR in view of the ‘chakka jam’ call.