The Mumbai Police on Wednesday restrained nearly 500 members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) from marching to Chaityabhoomi in Dadar, holding them for over 12 hours at a school in Tilak Nagar where they had halted. They were allowed to leave at 6.30 p.m. in their own vehicles to participate in the protest at Chaityabhoomi.
The march had been organised from Uran to Chaityabhoomi against the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and National Population Register along with issues of unemployment, privatisation of public sector undertakings and education.
“It was the fifth time in four days that we were being detained by the police. We were kept as prisoners and treated like we had committed a crime. Some of the protesters from Amravati wanted to go back home, but the police did not let them leave,” Preeti Shekhar, State secretary, DYFI, said.
The protesters started walking from Uran on Sunday, after which the Navi Mumbai Police arrested and later released them on personal bonds on Tuesday. Ms. Sekhar said many of them were taken to railway stations and bus stops and forced to board trains or buses going out of the city. “Many arrived as late as 2.30 a.m. We didn’t know where they had been taken and which police stations they were in. The picture began to emerge only in the morning,” she said.
On Wednesday, the protesters congregated at their halting point at Adarsh Vidyalaya in Tilak Nagar and planned to march to Chaityabhoomi. The police, however, blocked the entrances and refused to let anyone leave, protesters said.
Around 4 p.m., members of the central committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Dr. Ashok Dhavale and Mahendra Singh and MLA Vinod Nikole, arrived at the spot and asked the police to let the protesters leave for Chaityabhoomi. The police, however, refused to do so.
Dr. Dhavale said, “The State government is trying to destroy this peaceful march. It is shameful that the government is allowing Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to carry out a rally only because the MNS is supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party. [Chief Minister] Uddhav Thackeray said they are against the NRC, but still allow its supporters to carry out a rally.”
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone- VI) Shashikumar Meena said the police had “to restrict the protesters” at the school as they did not have permission for the march. “We even made arrangements to drop them [to Chaityabhoomi] by police vehicles and also called BEST buses for them, but they refused to come along with us. Later, we allowed them to use their personal vehicles [accompanied by us]. We reached Chaityabhoomi around 7.45 p.m. and the protesters stayed there till 9,” Mr. Meena said.
