Chaos ensued at a free beverages stall set up inside Ramlila Maidan on Sunday when an unruly crowd tried to get AAP-branded soft drinks.
The AAP Cola —with a tagline that says “drink and fight corruption” — was distributed for free at the venue. It came in cola, lemon, orange and ‘surprise’ flavours.
The commotion started when the stalls, which were manned by eight to ten volunteers, started giving away the soft drink to those who flocked there to witness the swearing-in ceremony of Arvind Kejriwal as Delhi Chief Minister.
Since it was a hot day, hundreds of people at the spot choose the drink over free free potable water supplied by Delhi Jal Board, just next to the beverage stall.
Cola bottles in the air
In absence of any arrangement to maintain queues, the stall got overcrowded.
The people at the event started snatching the cola bottles from each other. After this, the AAP volunteers started throwing the bottles at the crowd due to which the numbers started swelling up after the end of the swearing-in ceremony.
Amid the chaos, a man, in his early 50s, got injured while trying to get the cola drink. He, however, managed to get hold of a lemon flavour at the end.
Another man, Zulfikar from Bhajanpura said he lost his mobile phone while trying to get a cola bottle. “I regret the decision,” he said.
As the security personnel at the spot failed to contain the mob, many people later resorted to ransacking the stall from the sides and the back to get hold of as many free drinks as they could. A few AAP volunteers nabbed a man, who they claim was a phone snatcher. He was later handed over to the police.
