As dusk fell over the leafy avenues and upscale markets of Lutyens’ Delhi on Monday, what remained resembled a battlefield: broken glass, pieces of stones and bricks, and footwear that had slipped off midway lay on the roads as the acrid smell of tear gas lingered in the air. Police action carried on for nearly six hours, clearing protesters from the arterial roads of central Delhi, who at the height of the protest were spread as far as Raisina Road, in front of the Parliament, nearly 2 km from the protest site at Jantar Mantar.
The immediate vicinity of the protest site, Janpath, and large parts of Connaught Place wore a desolate look. Shops, cafes, and restaurants had earlier hurriedly pulled down shutters and closed their doors as protesters occupied major intersections and ceremonial avenues for hours, and police personnel followed them to either detain them or force them leave the area.
A police bus with a broken windshield was parked on one side of Janpath, while another vandalised police van lay on its side some distance away, in front of the entrance of the metro station, which had remained shut all day. A petrol pump had also suffered some damage, with a gaping hole in the glass of one of its stores.
Over 1.5km away, three bus loads of Rapid Action Force personnel and two anti-riot vehicles had cleared the area on Raisina Road, near the Parliament —the final destination of the march. 22-year-old Rohit Upadhyay, who had come from Shamli in Uttar Pradesh, said that police should be held responsible for chaos. “We just wanted to peacefully hold a march and submit our demands. What would have been lost if we stayed outside the building for a few minutes? The government has ignored the peaceful protest for a month.”
Shelling with tear gas had pushed protesters back from here to Windsor Place roundabout. By evening, empty canisters, stones, empty plastic bottles and trampled banners lined the roads. Weary protesters sat in small groups on footpaths, waiting to regroup.
Meanwhile, back at the protest site, the stage had been torn down by police personnel. A part of the white tarp from the tent that had covered the area hung to the ground and barricades lay where they had toppled over. Chairs, remnants of sticks and posters, bags students had left behind and various paraphernalia that protesters were using over the past month were lying scattered in the area.
At first, late evening, the area was free of protesters with a dozen police officers sitting and roaming in the area. No one was allowed to enter beyond the entry point near the Palika Kendra. RAF personnel barred anyone from entering the area.
Around 6pm, Delhi Police made announcements threatening action against protesters standing near the barricades. Confrontation ensued, leading to a fresh lathi-charge. The protesters, in turn, lobbed stones and bricks at the advancing police, damaged a bus, and set a police bike on fire.
Then, at 6.30pm, Dr Gitanjali Angmo, activist Sonam Wangchuk’s wife, returned to the venue alone, heading towards the area behind the stage, near Kerala House. She remained there with the Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janata Party, which has led this protest, and its spokespersons Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das.
A few hundred metres away, around 300 protesters who were outside the police barricades, raised slogans against the Delhi Police and the central government, still demanding the resignation of Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Rishi, a student from Udaipur, was holding on to his bags. “I have travelled all night to reach the protest today. People are genuinely frustrated. We haven’t been paid by anyone. Police can keep pushing, we will keep coming back.”
The number of people continued to the to build and eventually, they were able to get through the barricades to reoccupy the area.
The CJP has said the protest will continue. In a post on X, the official account said, “We won’t stop until Dharmendra Pradhan is sacked.”
By 10 pm, Dipke, Ranka and Das, along with hundreds of protesters, had taken over the stage dismantled by police just hours ago. In the faint light — the electricity connection had seemingly been cut off — hundreds of protesters raised slogans, ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ and “Vande Mataram” reverberating through the air.
