Police stop a Shaheen Bagh-like protest near Nizamuddin Basti in Delhi

NEW DELHI: An attempt to start a Shaheen Bagh-like sit-in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act was foiled on Lodhi Road late on Sunday when police forcefully evicted protesters gathering on a stretch near Nizamuddin Basti and cordoned off the area through the night.
The protesters, however, were camping on the footpath in front of Musafirkhana Park till Monday evening. Efforts are being made to shift them into the park to avoid congestion during peak hours.The cops are also not allowing any more people to enter the protest site.
The stretch connects Mathura Road to the Barapullah flyover, which has been handling an increased volume of traffic due to the Kalindi Kunj road closure since the beginning of the protests at Shaheen Bagh. Any chaos on this stretch will choke the whole artery connecting central Delhi to south-east Delhi, a police officer said. “With the Kalindi Kunj stretch already blocked, a choke point near Nizamuddin will add to the commuters’ woes during the peak hours,” he added.
Around 9pm on Sunday, locals started gathering at the traffic island under the Lodhi Road flyover, and a group of women even set up plastic tents. As the cops, who were already expecting a gathering, tried to convince them to move to the nearby park, the protesters got agitated. With messages about the “possible police brutalities” getting circulated on WhatsApp, more people turned up and the cops finally forced some of them to shift to the park and cordoned off the area.
A video of the incident also went viral on social media. It showed some protesters trying to confront police when they were being shifted from the site.
The altercation went on till late in the night after which the protesters agreed to restrict the sit-in to the footpath with 50-60 people. However, a crowd from the locality soon reached the spot, swelling the numbers. “We’ve managed to contain the protesters, and are trying to shift them to the park. We’ve assured them that adequate security will be given,” said a cop.
As a precautionary measure, the cops are scanning vehicles carrying groups of people going towards Nizamuddin. The traffic, too, is being diverted through the Lodhi flyover or Mathura Road to avoid congestion. A large number of personnel has also been deployed to avoid any untoward incident near a temple behind Nizamuddin Basti.
Meanwhile, the special investigation team has been asked to probe the background of a group of women who has allegedly been spotted at different protests as DU, Jamia or JNU students. The probe has been ordered after a woman leading a group has allegedly been captured on a video misbehaving with police.