From 1am pickups to deserted streets: Connaught Place, heart of Delhi, sealed to smother CJP protest

More than 25,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed as markets, offices and major roads across the Capital remained shut or deserted.

Police began picking up protesters around Connaught Place and Sansad Marg between 1am and 2am on Saturday, and by daybreak the heart of the Capital had been emptied of everyone but security personnel, anti-riot vehicles and journalists, as more than 25,000 police and paramilitary personnel moved to stop the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest from taking hold.

Protesters were detained from several locations and taken to distant sites including Chhatrasal Stadium, Narela and the Yamuna Sports Complex. (RAJ K RAJ /HT PHOTO)

By 9pm, more than 67,000 protesters had been detained across Delhi. Those who tried to gather were dragged away and detained almost as soon as they appeared.

Every approach was sealed. From Vikas Marg, the Safdarjung flyover and ITO, streets were lined with officers and layers of barricades, some fitted with spikes and some welded together, while senior officers manned Ashoka Road, Sansad Marg, Connaught Place, Janpath and Jantar Mantar. Around the Election Commission’s office, the Le Meridien roundabout and the length of KG Marg, an armed security man, a detention bus or an anti-riot vehicle stood every 15 steps or so, and hundreds of buses waited nearby to take detainees away.

Protesters Evade Police and Gather at Gurdwara

Some protesters had spent the night in hiding. Seven of them stayed in an NDMC washroom on Connaught Place’s Outer Circle until police found and detained them in the morning. “We only wanted to protest but there was no way to enter Jantar Mantar, CP market, Janpath or gurudwara. Us seven decided to stay at the washroom. It was tough but we wanted to protest. We don’t want vote chori in our country,” one of them told HT, declining to be named.

Others who made it past Connaught Place reached Gurdwara Bangla Sahib. Kamaljeet Singh, a visitor at the gurdwara, said more than 1,000 protesters spent the night and the morning there to evade the police, who later detained them when they left the gurudwara.

By 10am, several journalists, content creators and YouTubers had also been detained and put into buses on Sansad Marg.

Clashes and Alleged Attacks on Protesters

Around noon, police and protesters clashed repeatedly near Kerala House, the Le Meridien roundabout, Jantar Mantar, Janpath, Sansad Marg, Imtiaz Khan Marg, Feroz Shah Road, Minto Road, ITO, Connaught Place’s Outer Circle and Palika Bazaar.

Police lathi-charged Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and CJP protesters who tried to enter from KG Marg, and many protesters were dragged and hit near Connaught Place, including instances that unfolded in front of HT’s reporters. Several of those carrying out the assault claimed to be affiliated with right-wing organisations, including the Bajrang Dal and the Hindu Raksha Dal.

A scuffle also broke out between protesters and police at Baba Kharak Singh Marg at 1pm, when police accused protesters of stone pelting. Police said 10 people were held from there, and two detained for pelting stones.

Police head constable Nagendra from New Delhi said, “We were removing the protesters when a scuffle broke out and my nameplate was broke. The students then started attacking us. We detained them but some of them tried to stop us by pelting stones. The stones hit our legs.”

These episodes unfolded between 2pm and 3pm, with groups of alleged right-wing men attacking protesters at Connaught Place and Civic Centre. Police said they later detained the men, although it was not clear how many were detained.

Prior to Saturday’s protest, several right-wing content creators had posted threats that they would bring men and “finish off” the protest.

Political Leaders and Activists Detained

By 2pm, police had detained four former chief ministers. Mamata Banerjee was detained at her Delhi residence along with four Trinamool Congress leaders, Pinarayi Vijayan was held near Jantar Mantar with MP John Brittas and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader KN Balagopal, Arvind Kejriwal was detained with AAP leaders Durgesh Pathak and Saurabh Bhardwaj, and Manik Sarkar was also taken in. Economist and activist Jean Dreze, journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, scholar Aban Raza and Paran Amitava were detained as well.

Most of those detained were taken to distant locations, among them Chhatrasal Stadium, Narela, Maidan Garhi, the Yamuna Sports Complex, Noida and Gurugram.