Cops shunt protestors from Gateway to Azad Maidan
January 07,2020Mumbai, Jan 7 The Mumbai Police on Tuesday
cleared thousands of protestors and activists -- who gathered to condemn
the attacks in the JNU campus late on Sunday -- from the iconic Gateway
of India, and shunted them to Azad Maidan, a top official said here.
Deputy
Commissioner of Police (Zone I) Sangram Singh Nishandar led a police
team to the Gateway of India and requested the protestors, who occupied
the area since Sunday midnight to vacate and go to the Azad Maidan,
around 2 km away, but they refused to comply.
"The protest here
is causing inconvenience to the people, office-going commuters,
tourists... Plus, there are no water and toilet facilities here. So we
have 'relocated' them to Azad Maidan which is better equipped for such
mass gatherings," DCP Nishandar told the media.
There are
indications that the police may book the protestors for trespassing at
the venue without police permission which is also a landmark tourist
attraction, opposite the Hotel Taj Mahal, and the jetties from where
people bound for Elephanta Island or mainland locations like Raigad and
Ratnagiri, etc can board ferries, motor-boats, catamarans, etc.
The
protests in Mumbai started in a small way around midnight
(Sunday-Monday), through messages relayed on social media networks with
candle-lit vigils and a procession to the iconic Gateway of India.
By
afternoon of Monday, the trickle swelled into huge crowds at the
Gateway of India, with many protestors apparently prepared for a long
vigil on Monday night.
Many of them carried stocks of snacks and
water, mobile chargers and battery banks, basic medicines,
blankets/shawls to beat the chill, even tampons and napkins.
Local
eateries chipped in their support by throwing open their toilets for
the protestors and even made arrangements for food and water for them as
per their requirements.
Present at the Gateway of India on
Monday were several politicians and celebrities like Sushant Singh,
Varun Grover, Shrikant Matondkar, legislators Abu Asim Azmi, Rohit
Pawar, Kapil Patil, farmers leader Ashok Dhawale, activists like Jatin
Desai, Fahad Ahmad, NCP leader and Housing Minister Dr. Jitendra Awhad,
among many more, who joined the protests.
The participants
included students from IIT Bombay, TISS, the University of Mumbai,
several city colleges, youth and social organisations, activists and
others, who trooped with hand-painted banners/posters with anti-BJP-ABVP
slogans, the National Tricolour, pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar and other leaders, and demanded action against the perpetrators
of the violence at the JNU campus on Sunday.