Supporters stay up all night to welcome Anna

Anna Hazare’s supporters stayed up all night on the road in front of Tihar Jail on Wednesday to welcome their hero when he comes out around 10am on Friday. HT reports.

Anna Hazare’s supporters stayed up all night on the road in front of Tihar Jail on Wednesday to welcome their hero when he comes out around 10am on Friday.

HT Image

As news of Hazare’s imminent emergence spread through television channels and word of mouth, groups of protesters, big and small, and local residents, kept pouring in, waving the national flag late in the evening on Thursday. Hundreds of candles were lit up on the road and residents decorated it with flowers as the music and slogans reached fever pitch.

Hundreds — if not thousands —more are expected to join what is being planned as a people's march to greet Hazare and accompany him to Ramlila Maidan half-way across the city on Friday morning.

It wasn’t only Hazare’s supporters who stayed up. More than 300 officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi worked through the night levelling the grounds at Ramlila Maidan in central Delhi. Water, tents, power and toilets are also being arranged for, since as Team Hazare is expecting large numbers to turn up on Friday. The grounds were in a mess, which is why Hazare stayed on in Tihar on Thursday night.

The stalemate between Team Hazare and the police was broken on Wednesday night after both sides agreed on a ‘middle path’, following several rounds of discussions.

Team Anna settled for the police’s 15-day deadline for using the Ramlila Maidan after meeting Delhi Police chief BK Gupta at his house for two hours after Wednesday midnight.