JOIN US Traffic was thrown out of gear in east and central Delhi on Wednesday when hundreds of protesters, who were detained on Tuesday over the Karbala land dispute, decided to take out another ‘peaceful’ march to Dandi March Statue at central Delhi’s Mother Teresa Crescent.
They managed to reach central Delhi’s Mandi House, but returned home when police threatened to take them to a temporary jail in outer Delhi’s Bawana.
On Tuesday, some 500 Shia Muslims protesters were detained on Delhi-UP border in east Delhi’s Ghazipur as a preventive measure anticipating violence. They were taken to Mandawali police station in east Delhi.
After several hours in detention, the protesters allegedly refused to vacate the police station.
On Wednesday, an estimated 200 to 250 of the protesters staged a sit-down on the adjacent National Highway 24. When not allowed to do this either, the protesters threatened to march to Delhi Police headquarters in central Delhi and then to Dandi March Statue at Mother Teresa Crescent.
“The protestors planned to court arrest at Dandi March Statue. But since they did not have permission, we intercepted and detained them at Mandi House. They were given the option of leaving the place and were allowed to return home,” a police officer said.
Police were informed that Anjuman-E-Haideri had also invited several hundred of its members to central Delhi.
It made police scramble to make security arrangements.
As a result, massive police deployment was put in place at Ghazipur, Mother Teresa Crescent, Akshardham Setu, Vikas Marg, Mother Dairy Road, Madhu Vihar, Anand Vihar ISBT, Sarai Kale Khan ISBT, ITO, Karkari More, Geeta Colony, Sardar Patel Marg, Panchsheel Marg, Kautilya Marg, South Avenue Road and Akbar Road.
Security arrangements led to traffic nightmare during rush hour in east Delhi and central Delhi. The situation worsened when protestors we
re allowed to walk from Laxmi Nagar to ITO with the large group blocking traffic.Police also made arrangements for a temporary jail in outer Delhi’s Bawana, which would have been used had the protestors refused to accept the offer to return home.Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad, a Shia cleric who was leading the protesters when they were detained on Tuesday, appealed to Muslims to boycott Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.
He said Congress leader Ahmed Patel has been involved in Waqf land grabbing across the country.
While in police custody, Jawad said, “We have chosen Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings by organising peaceful Dandi march till 11 Murti at Mother Teresa Crescent. But Delhi Police at the behest of Ahmed Patel did not allow the peaceful march and detained the protesters.”
While describing overwhelming support for ‘Save Karbala Movement’, Jawad said thousands of people, including Yahya Bukhari, visited the detained protesters at Mandawali police station.