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Students shout slogans at CM Adityanath after halting motorcade, cops suspended
Students groups affiliated to SP, Left block Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s motorcade outside Lucknow University in incident seen as a security breach
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s motorcade was surrounded by students in Lucknow on Wednesday evening, with many shouting slogans at him over alleged violence against Dalits and Muslims.
The incident was seen as a security breach as the motorcade had to come to a halt when students lay down on the streets in front of the Lucknow University, where the Bharatiya Janata Party leader was scheduled to make an appearance.
The government announced the suspension of seven policemen on Thursday: a sub-inspector and six constables.
The protest at around 5.15pm was held by members of two student groups — the Left-wing All India Students Association and the Samajwadi Party’s Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha. Police arrested 14 of them, which included 4 women.
Their protest seemed in connection with the recent casteist violence in Saharanpur, where members of Dalit and upper caste communities have clashed sporadically over a weeks-long period. They also accused the government of failing to create jobs for youth.
An 8-minute video of Wednesday’s protest went viral shortly after. It showed police struggling to contain protesters shouting “Yogi sarkar murdabad” (down with Yogi government). Some were waving black flags, and opposed what they said was a “BJP programme” at the expense of Lucknow University.
Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary later told reporters that a “peaceful” protest was being staged by students.
The students did not indulge in any violence and were only drawing the attention of the chief minister towards an event which was being held “at the expense of the university”, he said.
Wednesday’s breach happened despite a specific intelligence input that some student wings of political parties were planning to hold a protest.
