Shaheen Bagh locals demand removal of police barricades

Hundreds of locals, on Sunday, staged a demonstration near the antiCAA protest site in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, demanding the removal of barricades from the road connecting Noida with Kalindi Kunj.

The protesters demanded that the people, who have been sitting on dharna there for over a month to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), should clear the stretch as the commuters are facing difficulties, the police said.

Senior Delhi police officers were at the spot monitoring the situation to ensure that no untoward incident takes place. The officers were trying to negotiate with the protestors and asking them to maintain peace.

The protestors, including women, raised slogans like “Jai Shree Ram,” “Vande Matram,” and “Khali Karao Shaheen Bagh wallo ko.”

“We want the roads to be cleared. They (anti-CAA protesters) have been sitting on protest for 50 days now. It has been causing inconvenience to us. Our children have not been able to go to school because the roads are blocked,” said Rekha Devi, a resident of Jasola.

Around 52 people have

been detained. They will be released shortly, the police said.

Deepak Patel, a resident of Jasola, said he somehow managed to go to work after crossing the area.

“With heavy barricading, the police don’t allow us to enter the protest site where women have been sitting for over a month. I somehow managed to go to work crossing the area. But since yesterday, there has been strict checking and we were not allowed to pass through the stretch without showing an identity card,” Mr Patel said.