Shaheen Bagh Empty Post AAP Win? Twitter Abuzz With False Report

It’s unclear when the protesters will move from Shaheen Bagh, but as of today, they continue to raise their voice.

With the counting of votes for Delhi Assembly elections underway on Tuesday, 11 February – with latest trends pointing to a massive mandate for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – a report by Amar Ujala claims that Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area, which has become the face of anti-CAA protests in the country, wore a deserted look.

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The report, which was published in the early hours on Tuesday, was also picked up by right-wing website OpIndia, which is notorious for spreading misinformation.

The OpIndia story, titled ‘Shaheen Bagh protest site seen empty as AAP all set to return in Delhi’, suggested that the protesters have moved out as AAP has registered a victory in the constituency.

“It is noteworthy to mention that Shaheen Bagh comes under Okhla constituency, where controversial AAP member Amanatullah Khan has registered a victory,” read the article.

BJP IT-Cell head Amit Malviya, who has been caught peddling fake news on multiple occasions, shared the same OpIndia story, which in-turn has been retweeted by 1,400 users (at the time of writing this piece).

Multiple users shared the story on social media with similar claims, slamming the protesters.

But the report which is being shared widely is misleading on many counts and fails to bring forth the facts.

Now, while the picture which has been used is indeed from Shaheen Bagh, it is incorrect to claim that the protesters didn’t show up as the AAP is all set to form the government in Delhi.

Here’s a timeline of events held at Shaheen Bagh on Tuesday:

8:00 AM: Before The Protesters Came In

A similar picture was taken by The Quint’s Akanksha Kumar, who was in the area to cover the protests. She reported that the picture was taken in the early hours, before the protesters started pouring-in.

“This (picture) was taken at 8 am, when only volunteers were sleeping inside and women protesters hadn't come out,” Kumar said.

At around 9:00 am, women protesters started coming in and by 12:00 pm there were hundreds of protesters at the site, she added.

At 7:00 PM

The protest continued in the evening with hundreds of protesters continuing their demonstration in the area.

Contrary to Reports, Shaheen Bagh Observed a Silent Protest

The second part of both these reports mention that the protesters didn’t show up because AAP is coming back to power in Delhi. But, in reality, the protesters began a silent protest holding placards which read that they don’t support any political party.

Speaking to The Quint, a participant Shabnam said that the silent protest is against the alleged police crackdown on Jamia students.

“We are neither happy with anyone’s victory nor sad about anyone’s defeat.”

Shabnam told The Quint

The Shaheen Bagh protest has been going on for almost 55 days and has become a symbol of resistance against NRC, CAA and police brutality.

And while the Supreme Court is slated to hear the matter of the protesters blocking the public roads and causing inconvenience to people on 17 February, the protesters aren’t defiant and say that the apex court’s order will be acceptable to them.

While it remains unclear as to when will the protesters move from the location, but as of 11 February, men and women of Shaheen Bagh continued to raise their voice against the establishment.

(With inputs from Akanksha Kumar and Aaqib Raza Khan)

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