Protesting INLD supporters face police lathis in Delhi
Hundreds of INLD supporters from Haryana on Wednesday flooded the Parliament Street in the heart of the national capital to protest over the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue, prompting police to resort to lathicharge.
According to police, the protesters were initially at Jantar Mantar and suddenly poured onto the Parliament Street midafternoon, barely a few metres shy of the perimeter of the Parliament House.
“The protesters were trying to march towards Parliament to press for their demands on SYL issue. Some Jat quota agitators had also slipped into the crowd,” a police official said.
The Parliament Street is a very high-security zone and therefore police and paramilitary forces on duty were sent into a tizzy as the agitators sought to march towards the Parliament complex.
As the protesters ran through the one-way traffic on the street, security personnel resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd. A water cannon was also kept on standby. “Some of them were detained and taken to the Parliament Street Police Station. Protesters are generally cordoned off around Patel Chowk roundabout area but these agitators suddenly spilled onto the street from other routes,” the official said. An INLD spokesperson said, “The party’s demand from the Centre is that the work on the canal be completed,” while alleging that “even the BJP government in Haryana was not pursuing the matter seriously enough with the Centre.” He also claimed that several INLD supporters, including the party’s Haryana unit president Ashok Arora, were injured in the incident.