New Delhi: Despite requests by Jamia professors, management and the police, the Jamia protesters continued their stand-off with the security forces in a bid to march to Parliament.
The protesters have been demanding that the security forces must be sent back, the way towards Parliament be opened for the protesters and the detained students freed.
The security forces continued their efforts to convince the protesters to go back inside the university.
“Your protest has been registered, it’s been over three hours that you are pushing our personnel and barricades. Please move back to the university now,” a police officer kept requesting.
Later, the management of the Jamia Millia Islamia was also called to pacify the protesters.
“I will request police to get back, but first students should sit,” the chief proctor of Jamia, Waseem Ahmed Akhtar, said while addressing the protesters.
Earlier in the day, tension mounted during the protest march from Jamia Millia Islamia to Parliament after a scuffle ensued when police confronted the protesters who tried to push forward towards Parliament. In the melee that ensued, many from both sides fainted.
Coming up against four layers of barricades and massive security deployment, some of the protesters tried to climb over the barricades. But they met with stiff resistance from the police.
When shoes were hurled at the police from inside the ranks of the protesters, the organisers quickly stepped in to tell the protesters not to indulge in violence.
The anti-CAA march from Jamia Millia Islamia to Parliament began behind schedule on Monday amid heavy security deployment. The police had earlier denied permission to the protesters for the march.
The march to Parliament was called by the Jamia Coordination Committee against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
A similar march on January 30 had created a controversy after a man raising pro-CAA slogans opened fire injuring a protesting student.
–IANS
