Scores of students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) participating in a “long march” to Parliament House were injured on Monday in a police lathicharge when they tried to break through barricades set up by the Delhi Police at multiple places in the city.
The march was organised to “save public funded education” and demanding a “complete rollback” of the hostel fee hike.
Police had barricaded all the roads leading to the university and created a two-tier security cordon on Baba Gang Nath Marg outside the university’s main gate.
Union Human Resource Development Ministry tried to pacify the students, announcing ahead of the march that it had formed a three-member “high power” committee to restore normal functioning of the university and initiate a dialogue with the students and the university administration. Students, however, continued with their planned march and thousands exited the campus to make their way towards Parliament House on the first day of the Winter Session.
Students tried to break the barricades outside the campus. After a two-hour stand-off with the police, just when it appeared that it was the end of the protest, the students turned around and ran through a park in Munirka Vihar, a residential colony opposite the JNU.
The students then marched via Bhikaji Cama Place towards Ring Road and were finally met by barricades once again at Jor Bagh. To prevent more protesters from gathering at the venue, the Delhi Metro shut five stations in the vicinity. The students sat on the road outside Jor Bagh Metro station and continued their protest till late in the evening. They finally dispersed after the police lathicharged them around 7 p.m, at the end of a speech by the JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, who had been freed by the police.
