New Delhi: Children who sneaked out of their homes, elderly people who travelled across states and students holding placards were among the thousands who gathered in Delhi Monday for the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) ‘Chalo Sansad’ protest.
By daybreak, central Delhi had turned into a sea of people, with protesters carrying flags and placards marching in groups and raising slogans as they moved through the roads leading towards Parliament.
Many carried backpacks after travelling overnight by train and bus, while others walked with umbrellas as rain lashed the city. Around them, police in riot gear lined the roads, buses stood ready to detain protesters and long rows of barricades blocked every route leading to Parliament.
As protesters moved towards Parliament, Delhi Police stopped them at several points using multiple layers of barricades.
Police fired tear-gas and resorted to lathi-charge near Parliament Street, Patel Chowk, Rail Bhawan and other areas after the protesters attempted to push through the barricades. Both police personnel and protesters were injured during the clashes, while internet services were suspended in parts of central Delhi.
The march began from Jantar Mantar, where the CJP has been holding a sit-in since June 20, and coincided with the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. It also came as educationist Sonam Wangchuk remained hospitalised.
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The crowd included schoolchildren, college students, parents and senior citizens. Some children came in school uniforms, while others wore cockroach costumes.
Many protesters took narrow lanes to evade police barricades, seeking shortcuts, hoping to get closer to Parliament after the main roads were sealed.
Even after being pushed back, protesters regrouped, waited near barricades and tried again to move ahead. Some climbed over barricades while others sat on the roads raising slogans despite the rain and repeated police action.
Prakash, one of the protesters, alleged that the march was peaceful but police used force against them. “There are old people, they were collapsing… But the police did not stop,” he said.
A few metres away, Sandeep, a student from Delhi, sat on the pavement with a bleeding head injury, alleging that he was struck during a baton charge near Parliament Street.”They hit me on the head, and after that they dragged me here by force,” he claimed.
“If we get scared, we would be called cowards. They are sending their own children abroad to study, but what about us?” he said. Inside Parliament, the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed repeated adjournments amid protests by Opposition members over the CJP-led demonstration.
Outside, protesters and police remained locked in a standoff through much of the day as rain, slogans, sirens and repeated attempts to breach barricades defined the scene in the heart of the national capital.
