Clashes between police and Kejriwal’s supporters,breaks barricades

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Jan 21:  Supporters of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today clashed twice with the police, broke barricades and kept security forces on edge at central Delhi, a high-security zone that houses the parliament, various ministries and the President’s home.

Hundreds of slogan-shouting people in Gandhi caps pushed, climbed and crossed barricades. Some protesters were injured when the police used batons on those who jumped over barricades. Six were taken to the hospital, said an AAP member. 

 

 

 

 

After spending the night sleeping on a road in the heart Delhi, Mr Kejriwal woke up to rain and chilly winds this morning but vowed to escalate his sit-in protest against a police force that he describes as "compromised."

Mr Kejriwal, 45, warned, "I said 10 days, but it was a way of saying that the protest is indefinite. If the central government does not agree to our demands by January 26, then we will fill Rajpath (the central boulevard in the heart of central Delhi) with lakhs of people."

 

Four policemen and two journalists were also injured. An AAP supporter allegedly grabbed a reporter’s neck and slapped a cameraperson covering the clashes. There was also stone-pelting. AAP claimed their protest has been "infiltrated" by people from other political parties.


AAP workers abusing and provoking us: Delhi Police


Cops deployed at the venue of the protest launched by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal near India Gate, say they are being "abused and provoked" by Aam Aadmi Party volunteers, whose numbers are increasing by the moment as they try to bring down barricades and join their leader.

"There is a plan by volunteers to abuse us, provoke us. They are trying to get into an altercation," said Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, SBS Tyagi. The senior policeman said he had asked his men to be "patient."