Delhi: Protests at UP and Assam Bhawan, Students Detained

NEW DELHI: On the morning of December 23, news emerged from the Uttar Pradesh Bhawan that students organising a protest against the police brutality and internet shutdown in Uttar Pradesh have been detained. The poster of the protest also demanded resignation of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

Kawalpreet Kaur, Delhi president of All India Student's Union (AISA) said on Twitter that she was detained while sitting in an auto-rickshaw outside the UP Bhawan and was manhandled on the way. N Sai Balaji, the National President of AISA and former JNUSU president was detained as well.

“The police will only detain and arrest folks when there are protests against the government or for issues like the CAA-NRC but they don’t care about their duties when it comes to demonstrations which spew hate.” said N Sai Balaji.

A student who wished to be anonymous said, “They told us Section 144 has been implemented here but they had no proof to show us.”Hours later, just minutes before the Assam Bhawan protest was about to begin, students were detained. In one case, a student was asked if she was here for the protest and when she said yes, she was detained.

When this reporter asked a police officer if Section 144 had indeed been imposed, she refused to answer.

Soon, a rally of protesters emerged from the neighbouring lane who shouted slogans of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’.

The protesters sat down on the pavement in front of the Bhawan and continued shouting slogans. Instantly, the police offers grabbed them by their shirts and began shoving them into a bus. Close to twenty protesters were detained and taken to Mandir Marg police station. Hours before, students from the Kranti Yuva Sangh (KYS) were detained at the same spot.

Rushnae Kabir, a master’s in history student from Jawaharlal Nehru University was detained with 5 of her friends when they were eating at a stall nearby. “They detained one of my male friends in a car first, the girls intervened to protect the other guy. They immediately called female police officers with the protest bus and told us, “protest nahi kar rahe toh road pe mat chalo” (Don’t walk on the road if you aren’t protesting)”

An ambulance on the spot run by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) was also attacked by the police and two female volunteers were detained.

When this reporter was leaving, she saw two policemen detain two people who had just reached the venue. Several journalists intervened to stop them but to no avail.

The last eleven days have seen continuous protests in the national capital against the CAA-NRC. Some of the protests have unfortunately resulted in police brutality and unlawful detention.

More photos from today: