Multiple ‘Jantar Mantars’ spring up as Delhi shuts

Police detaining a protester in New Delhi on Saturday. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

he unprecedented crackdown on protesters by Delhi Police and paramilitary forces prompted many youth organisations to shift their demonstrations on Saturday (October 10) to other areas, including the Safdarjung flyover, Dilli Haat, Raj Ghat and various makeshift detention centres in north-west Delhi.

The central part of the national capital was sealed with heavy police deployment and barricading while metro stations, schools, colleges and markets remained closed.

Announcements were made from loudspeakers across central Delhi that Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) was in place and citizens should follow the directions of the police and maintain law and order.

Curbs in place

Despite the restrictions, hundreds of protesters continued their attempts to reach the planned protest site – Jantar Mantar – but were stopped by the police, detained, bundled into buses and driven to the city’s outskirts.

While larger groups of 100-200 showed up under the banner of various youth organisations, several protesters, including women and children, made their way in smaller groups of four or five. The police, however, stopped the groups immediately and forced them to sit inside the buses.

Near Safdarjung flyover, several people tried to stop a bus full of detainees, including All India Students’ Association president Neha Bora.