End of the Agitation: Delhi Police Drives Away Shaheen Bagh Protesters
Although the women protesters were taking all necessary precautions to save themselves from the disease, the police – on the directions of the government – used the coronavirus excuse to force the end of the protest.
By Rakesh Raman
A couple of days after a petrol bomb attack on the Shaheen Bagh protest site to scare away the protesters, today Delhi Police forcefully removed the protesters who were not willing to end their agitation.
Earlier, on Monday evening, the Delhi Police had warned the protesters authoritatively to vacate the place where protesters had been sitting to raise their voice against the discriminatory citizenship laws announced by the government.
The police took this extreme step today as the Delhi Government of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had declared on Sunday a complete lockdown of the city in view of the coronavirus outbreak.
Although the women protesters were taking all necessary precautions to save themselves from the disease, the police – on the directions of the government – used the coronavirus excuse to force the end of the protest.
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Protesters argued that PM Modi encouraged his gullible followers to gather in crowds to bang their kitchen utensils on Sunday to combat the virus, while they are being asked to go even as they are sitting at safe distance from each other.
They also added that if Modi is so concerned about people’s safety, he should release the prisoners held in detention centers as they face a greater risk of coronavirus.
As a precautionary measure, the protesters had reduced the number of people at the protest site to 5 and they were using sanitizers to stay clean from coronavirus which has been declared a pandemic disease.
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A video report reveals that Delhi Police had ordered them to suspend their agitation until 31st March. However, the women had refused to accept the police order.
Rather, they said if the government forced them to go, they will even defy the lockdown order of the Delhi Government and call more women to come for the protest.
Thousands of protesters – mainly women – had been protesting in Shaheen Bagh since December last year against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC), and National Population Register (NPR) announced by the Modi government.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He also creates and publishes a number of digital publications and research reports on different subjects.
