New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) They hid in public washrooms, took shelter overnight in a gurdwara and slipped in and out of its gates as police closed in, turning the crackdown during the CJP protest in Delhi into a elaborate game of hide-and-seek.
As thousands of police and paramilitary personnel fanned out across the capital on Saturday, protesters demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the rollback of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) scrambled to evade detention, using public spaces and places of worship to lie low.
One of the most unusual scenes unfolded at an NDMC washroom in Connaught Place, where more than 20 young protesters had hidden overnight, hoping to sneak through the extensive security arrangements ahead of the march to Jantar Mantar.
The group had gradually gathered through the night after restrictions were announced across the city on Friday. The washrooms, which are locked at 10 pm and reopened at 6 am, offered a temporary hiding place until the morning police checks thwarted their plan.
During an inspection, police found the protesters inside the washroom. Some had allegedly forced open the door to get in. The protesters were rounded up and bundled into detention vehicles.
Most had their faces covered. Even after being detained, they continued raising slogans and banging against interiors of the police vehicles, their voices carrying through the netted windows that shielded those inside from public view.
The episode at Connaught Place was one of several scenes across central Delhi in which protesters tried to stay out of police custody, only to return to the streets as soon as they saw an opportunity.
At Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, young protesters who had taken shelter overnight repeatedly emerged from the premises to join demonstrations before retreating inside as police personnel pursued them. The cycle continued as the two sides moved back and forth around the gurdwara, with protesters attempting to evade detention.
Slogans of “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Jai Bhim” rang out in the lane outside the gurdwara as a large group of protesters poured onto the street. Within minutes, police detained several of them.
The gurdwara had offered refuge to student protesters earlier in July, when they were demanding resignation of erstwhile Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. This time, protesters took shelter there after citywide restrictions were announced on Friday, preparing to join Saturday’s demonstration.
The police had also approached representatives of Bangla Sahib and asked them not to allow protesters into the premises, according to those familiar with the exchanges. The gurdwara representatives refused, saying the protesters were unarmed and were not raising slogans inside.
“We won’t let police enter the premises. Protesters are unarmed and not raising slogans inside the premises, so we are not against them,” a representative said.
The presence of police personnel carrying lathis near the place of worship and the detention of young protesters drew criticism from some visitors, who called the action shameful and questioned the decision to pursue demonstrators in the vicinity of a religious site.
The protesters’ attempts to find refuge were not confined to the gurdwara. Several youth organisations and student groups marched from Baba Kharak Singh Road towards Ashoka Road, with police personnel moving in to detain them. Some protesters ran into the gurdwara premises as officers approached, seeking shelter before attempting to return to the demonstration.
At Kerala House, several CPI(M) leaders, including former chief ministers of different states, had been staying since Friday night. They were detained on Saturday when they stepped out to join the protest.
The scenes played out against an unprecedented security deployment around the planned demonstration, called by the CJP and other Left organisations to demand Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the SIR exercise.
More than 30,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across the capital, while 45 metro stations were closed and traffic restrictions imposed on 30 road stretches around Jantar Mantar. Police pickets dotted the city, with identity checks and vehicle inspections carried out at border points, railway stations, bus terminals, hotels and other sensitive locations.
Steel spikes were also placed on some roads to prevent vehicles from forcing their way through checkpoints without inspection.
Yet, despite the barricades, checks and heavy deployment, protesters continued to find ways to assemble, disappear into places of refuge and emerge again to join the demonstrations — turning a day of tight security into a running contest between those trying to exercise their right to protest and the police attempting to detain them. PTI MSJ SHB MSJ ARB
ARB
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