The Hindu : Left, RJD leaders court arrest

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Sunday, Mar 23, 2003

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Left, RJD leaders court arrest

By Our Special Correspondent

A CPI(M) activist being taken away by police near the U.S. Embassy during a protest against the war on Iraq in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: Shanker Chakravarty.

NEW DELHI MARCH 22. A strong wave of protests hit the capital today with the `Committee Against War On Iraq' staging a mass demonstration close to the U.S. embassy, with several senior Left and RJD leaders courting arrest.

With the authorities clamping prohibitory orders around the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri, the committee managed to send by stealth over a score of demonstrators right across the U.S. embassy gate. Twentytwo protesters chained themselves to a fence opposite the embassy and shouted anti-war slogans before they were arrested by police.

For nearly three hours, the demonstrators raised slogans protesting the `unjustified' war, broke through a security cordon and heard an array of leaders, including the former Prime Minister, I.K. Gujral, the CPI (M) general secretary, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, the CPI national secretary, D. Raja, the CPI-ML general secretary, Dipankar Bhattacharya, writer Arundhati Roy, the Janata Dal (Secular) vice-president, Romesh Bhandari, and its general secretary, Danish Ali, the CPI (M) leader, Brinda Karat, the CPI's Sehba Farooqi and others.

All the speakers condemned the U.S. aggression on Iraq. They expressed anger at the fierce bombardment of Baghdad and other cities. They demanded that the Vajpayee Government stop `appeasing' the U.S. and come out in strong condemnation of the war.

Urging the people to intensify the anti-war struggle, Mr. Surjeet said that in the days to come the message should be sent clearly to the Vajpayee Government that the people did not appreciate the stand taken by it.

Later, several party leaders, including the CPI (M) politburo member, Prakash Karat, the Central Committee member, Brinda Karat, the CPI's D. Raja, broke the police cordon and were taken into custody.

They were later joined by the RJD chief, Laloo Prasad Yadav, and the party's Lok Sabha leader, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. The leaders were detained at the Mandir Marg police station for a couple of hours before being released.

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