Thousands Gather at India Gate To Protest Jamia, AMU Unrest

The protesters raised slogans against Delhi Police and “dictatorial” attitude of the government.

(Photo: PTI)

Scores of students from different universities across Delhi gathered at India Gate on Monday, 16 December to demonstrate against the police crackdown on students at the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi and Aligarh Muslim University in UP.

The students were joined by people from different walks of life, who lit candles at the protest venue.

The protesters raised slogans against Delhi Police and “dictatorial” attitude of the government.

Protesters at India Gate, Delhi. (Photo: Yumna Ahmed/Shalu Chowrasia/The Quint)

Protesters at India Gate, Delhi. (Photo: Yumna Ahmed/Shalu Chowrasia/The Quint)

Police had put up barricades to stop the students from reaching Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate where an event to read the Preamble of Constitution was scheduled to take place. Later, the police allowed the students to carry on the scheduled programme.

The protest, soon after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led a demonstration at the same venue, threw traffic in central Delhi out of gear.

There was a heavy deployment of police at different places to prevent any untoward incident.

“I am concerned about my son’s safety. When police can literally beat them up in libraries, where will they be safe? I have come here to express solidarity with these students.”

Shweta Jha, Engineer

"When policemen were beaten by lawyers, they cried buckets...the way they attacked students yesterday made me feel as if I am living under a dictatorial rule," said a psychology student of Ambedkar University, referring to the lawyer-police clash at Tis Hazari Court in November and subsequent demonstration by the men in khaki.

(Photo: Yumna Ahmed/Shalu Chowrasia/The Quint)

Another student demanded that Union Home Minister resign if he cannot ensure safety of “students who are peacefully studying in libraries”.

People protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act at India Gate. (Photo: Yumna Ahmed/Shalu Chowrasia/The Quint)

In view of the protests, the Delhi Metro closed some stations in central Delhi. Entry and exit from Patel Chowk, Central Secretariat, Udyog Bhawan, Lok Kalyan Marg and Janpath stations were barred for over two hours.

Anger over the police crackdown in Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia and at the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act cascaded across many campuses in the country on Monday with politicians and civil society supporting the students to decry what they say is an unconstitutional law.

The morning after violence erupted in the national capital's New Friends Colony, the lines between anger at the police action and the protests over the CAA blurred into a unison of protest -- from Kerala to West Bengal and Telangana to Uttar Pradesh -- as the day progressed.