Hundreds of local residents took to the streets to stage a demonstration near the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest site at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, demanding that police barricades from the road connecting Noida with Kalindi Kunj be removed.
The protests at Shaheen Bagh have been going on over a month and the locals gathered at the site demanded that the protesters clear the area because commuters were facing difficulties. The police was present at the incident to ensure no untoward incident took place, especially after the situation turning sensitive with back-to-back incidents of firing at protesters.
It was reported that the locals, including the women who were demanding that the anti-CAA protesters clear the area, were heard chanting slogans of “Jai Shri Ram”, “Vande Mataram”, “Azaadi denge Shaheen Bagh walon ko” and “Khaali karao Shaheen Bagh walon ko”. The locals were also joined by some fringe elements who raised slogans eerily similar to the ones BJP minister Anurag Thakur did and was banned from poll campaigning.
In videos of the demonstration by the locals, while some are seen saying that protesters have a right to demonstrate, there is another section of people who are raising hateful and provocative slogans like “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaron s****on ko”, clearly portraying anti-minority sentiments.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Southern Range) Devesh Srivastava and DCP (South East) Chinmoy Biswal (now removed from his post) were seen at the spot, monitoring the crowd. The agitators were stopped before they could reach the place where the women at Shaheen Bagh have staged their protests. Reports claim that 52 people had been detained in the incident, but were later released.
What locals say
India Today reported locals expressing their grievances with regards to the traffic restrictions and general inconveniences caused due to the anti-CAA stir at Shaheen Bagh.
Rekha Devi said, “They (anti-CAA protesters) have been sitting on protest for 50 days now. It is causing inconvenience to us. Our children cannot go to school because the roads are blocked.”
Speaking of the strict identity checks post the firing incident at Shaheen Bagh on Friday, Deepak Patel said, “With heavy barricading, police do not allow us to enter the protest site where women have been sitting for over a month. I somehow manage to go to work crossing the area. But since Saturday, there is strict checking and we were not allowed to pass through the stretch without showing an identity card.”
The situation with regards to the anti-CAA protests has been heating up with the Delhi elections around the corner. The Election Commission (EC) had banned BJP Ministers Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Varma from campaigning post their provocative and hateful slogans against the CAA protesters and today, it has been reported that the DCP South East, Chinmoy Biswal has been ousted from his post for not being able to maintain the law and order situation in Delhi following two firings in the capital.
Fear and intimidation tactics have been used incessantly against the protesters at Shaheen Bagh, but they have refused to budge. Will they relent to the demands of the locals or will their historic women-led protests refuse to be quelled, only time will tell.
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