Security personnel on Monday fired tear gas shells at and lathi-charged protesters of the political campaign Cockroach Janta Party in Delhi.
For several days, thousands of protesters had been demonstrating at the national capital’s Jantar Mantar to demand the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for the alleged mismanagement of competitive examinations.
The campaign had planned a march to Parliament on Monday, when the Monsoon Session began. However, while the leaders of the protests were blocked by the police from undertaking the march, some managed to march closer to Parliament and gather in other parts of central Delhi.
Hours after the lathi-charge, the Cockroach Janta Party said that the Union government had agreed to hold talks with the protesters. Two representatives of the campaign met Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader JP Nadda.
The spokespersons said that they submitted a letter listing their demands and the minister had “assured us that he will meanwhile speak internally”.
Scroll’s reporters were on the ground as the dramatic events unfolded in Delhi.
Here’s what they saw:
Anant Gupta documented what he saw in central Delhi as some protesters got past barricades.
Ayush Tiwari spoke with several young protesters who were injured during their march to Parliament. Among them was a 16-year-old student who was beaten by a lathi. He wondered if it was his mistake to be wishing well for the country.
Kritika Pant and Raghav Kakkar spoke with protesters who said that they had been confined by the heavy security deployment in central Delhi.
Among them was a man who said he had travelled from Indore, Madhya Pradesh only for the protest. “I’ve one demand: Dharmendra Pradhan must resign,” he said.
One protester told Raghav Kakkar that the police asked the demonstrators “to sit down and then started the lathi-charge”.
A protester who had travelled from Uttar Pradesh demanded accountability from the government. He told Scroll that the demonstration was peaceful until the security forces intervened.
Follow the latest updates of the CJP protest here
Watch: Meet the ‘cockroaches’ who crawl out every night at Jantar Mantar
Also read: How the ‘cockroaches’ at the Jantar Mantar sit-in are keeping themselves busy
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