Police detained scores of protesters and their leaders on in the Indian capital on Saturday amid patrols by thousands of security forces, with travel and telecoms links suspended, in a lockdown to stop a youth protest asking the election chief to quit.
The protest by the “Cockroach” youth movement aimed to draw thousands of demonstrators against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over a revision of voter lists that critics say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
“Long live the revolution,” chanted some of the young protesters in central Delhi chased by police, who dragged scores of others into buses to be taken away, even as more arrived, a Reuters witness said.
“This is violating the rights of the people and the country will not tolerate this anymore,” Yogendra Solanki, one of those being pushed into a bus, told Reuters.
Police also detained ‘Cockroach Janta Party’ founder Abhijeet Dipke and senior leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka as the aircraft bringing them to Delhi arrived from Mumbai, CJP said in a statement.
“I have come to be arrested, arrest me … I am not afraid of you guys,” Dipke told police officers who spoke to the trio on board the aircraft, television images showed.”No, this is not an arrest,” one police officer replied. “Please cooperate.”
CJP condemned the “authoritarian detention” of its leaders, which it called a “pre-planned interception” aimed at crippling the leadership of Saturday’s rally and demanded their immediate release.
