Protesters open one road, key stretch remains shut
NEW DELHI: Anti-citizenship law protesters in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh on Saturday opened the barricades to a road that will allow commuters to enter the satellite city of Noida from the Capital through a circuitous route, after holding a fourth round of inconclusive negotiations with Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors.
The opening up of a section of road 13A at Shaheen Bagh on the 67th day of the protest will allow motorists to enter Noida via a route that passes through Abu Fazal Enclave, Batla House and areas around Jamia Millia Islamia.
Around 5pm, the protesters took the help of Delhi Police and voluntarily removed the barricade to open the access to road number 9, which connects Shaheen Bagh and neighbouring areas to Kalindi Kunj, Noida and Faridabad. The main road -- 13A -- remains under the occupation of the protesters who gathered at the site on December 16 to protest against the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act.
“We were blamed for unnecessarily blocking the roads. This is our gesture to put forward the point that we do not want to close the roads that are not directly near the protest site. Now it is up to the police if they want to open the other routes,” said Shehzad Ali, a protester.
The passage of CAA by Parliament in December triggered protesters across the country. The amended law seeks to fast-track the grant of citizenship to nonmuslim refugees like Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis from the Muslim-majority nations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, triggering criticism that it was linking citizenship to religion in an avowedly secular country.
On Saturday, the police said that the protesters first voluntarily opened the route but minutes later another group arrived at the site and closed the barricades. After a few rounds of back and forth, the route was finally opened to traffic.
Deputy commissioner of police (southeast) RP Meena said that the road will remain open.
“On this road there were two barricades, one was managed by us (police) and the other was being managed by their own volunteers. By evening, a group of protesters came and removed the barricades. Within minutes they closed it again. Sometime later, a group came back and removed the barricades in front of the media,” Meena said.
He added, “The barricades were placed for the safety of the protesters and if they have removed it themselves, then we will go by their wish. The route will remain open.”
Until late Saturday night, the barricades remained open.
Meena said the opening of this route will not help traffic movement much because it will only benefit local residents. He said that road number 9 was essentially a narrow lane that cannot accommodate large traffic volumes. Police said road 13A, occupied by protesters, was the main road that connects Delhi with Noida, and is used by commuters from South Delhi and Faridabad and vice versa.
On Monday, the three interlocutors -- Sadhana Ramachandran, Sanjay Hegde and Wajahat Habibullah -- will submit their report to the apex court. Lawyers Sadhana Ramachandran and Sanjay Hegde discussed with the demonstrators the possibility of opening at least one carriageway on the GD Birla Marg and road 13 A near Shaheen Bagh on Friday.
The blockade of road no 13A has led to massive traffic jams in and around Ashram and parts of south Delhi, with other Noidadelhi connections, such as the Nizamuddin Bridge, also being hit severely.
HT has learnt that one of the important points that the interlocutors will mention in their report is the possibility of reopening one carriageway at road 13A, which will allow traffic movement from Noida to Sarita Vihar. Protesters have said that they are willing to vacate the carriageway if the SC guarantees police security for the occupants gathered there.