An estimated 2,000 people staged a massive protest outside the Delhi Police Headquarters on Tuesday morning, throwing traffic completely out of gear for hours.
Activists, students and members of the Delhi Congress were among those protesting against the Delhi Police’s ‘negligence’ in investigating the St. Sebastian’s Church fire on Monday alleging foul play.
While the police described the gathering as ‘largely peaceful’, the blockade of a carriageway adjacent to the police headquarters choked ITO and made it difficult for commuters headed to East and North Delhi. “The police seemed helpless and we had to pay the price,” complained Chitra Sharma, 27, a private executive. “There should either have been adequate arrangements to manage the flow of traffic at ITO or the police should have moved the protesters away to Jantar Mantar where they would not have affected traffic as majorly as they did,” she added.
According to the traffic police, congestion was reported from the Old Bridge, the Ring Road and Vikas Marg. This had a spill-over effect on the traffic, and led to jams as far as Noida, Laxmi Nagar, Kashmere Gate ISBT, Connaught Place and even Mathura Road.
Commuters complained that the Delhi Traffic Police personnel were nowhere in sight and questioned if they had evolved a circulation plan since the news about the gathering had more or less been doing the rounds since the incident came to light on Monday morning.
