They stole our cameras, assaulted hapless cops

I reached Azad Maidan at around 2.30pm to cover the protest at Azad Maidan. It was a huge crowd.

I reached Azad Maidan at around 2.30pm to cover the protest at Azad Maidan. It was a huge crowd. Soon after I clicked a few photographs, I heard one of the speakers trashing the media for not covering the violence in Assam against Muslims adequately. A fellow photographer sensed something amiss and suggested we click our pictures and leave.

After our job was done, we went to a nearby restaurant for lunch at around 3.15pm. Within minutes I got a call saying that an outdoor broadcasting van of a news channel had been set on fire. Around seven photographers and I started running towards Azad Maidan where we ran into a mob of about 400 people, who started attacking us. We got separated and each of us was singled out and attacked by at least 25 men.

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They asked us which newspapers we worked for. When I told them, they punched me and tried to snatch my camera. I held on to the camera, but got beaten up even as my mobile phone was snatched. But, they were not vandalising the cameras; they were robbing us. One photographer’s gold chain was snatched.

Policemen were also targeted. If they saw a policeman alone, they beat him and fled. I saw a man begging a policeman for help. But the hapless policeman, who was also being roughed up, replied, “Should I save your life or my own?”

I, meanwhile, stood stunned as the crowd left us smarting from our injuries and went looking for the next target.