Activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) were detained again on Monday, the second day of their protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).
“On the second consecutive day of our protest, we were detained, and again, we had the same thing to say: either arrest us officially or allow us to protest. We told them, even if we are not granted permission, we will continue with our protest wherever we are,” DYFI State Secretary Dnynaneshwar Mote said.
The protest march against CAA, NPR and NRC, along with various other issues, began in Uran on Sunday. On Sunday, close to 500 activists who were detained were allowed to go by evening, following which they continued with their protest till Wahal, as per plan. On Monday, when the march began at Wahal, NRI police detained around 1,000 activists and took them to the Navi Mumbai police headquarters in Kalamboli. “We were detained in one hall in the headquarters. Police announced we were not arrested and were just detained for a few hours,” Mr. Mote said.
“We tried to convince them that they are free to protest till Dadar as per their plan, but use a vehicle and travel by road. We asked them not to march on foot as it could cause traffic issues and someone could even pelt stones at them. But they seemed to be adamant. Hence, we let them march with police bandobast,” a police officer said.
“We are voicing our anguish against the privatisation of education and public sector undertakings, and against unemployment. Some youths from Nashik have joined us to voice concerns regarding the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Every day, there are more members in the protest. Our target is to reach Dadar Chaitya Bhoomi by Wednesday and we will accomplish it,” said Prasad Subramanium, media spokesperson for DYFI.
