Roads around AAP headquarters turn fortress as supporters protest

AAP supporters protest at ITO intersection against Delhi CM Kejriwal's arrest, leading to chaos and police action. Protests spread nationwide.

The ITO intersection, one of the busiest crossroads in the ciy, turned into a huge protest venue on Friday with Aam Aadmi Party supporters, members of the legislative assembly, Delhi cabinet ministers, and the party’s councillors and workers, trooping in the area against the arrest of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday night, triggering chaos and prompting police action amid massive security arrangements.

Security personnel at ITO on Friday. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

With the headquarters of both the AAP and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the Rouse Avenue Court, where the Delhi CM was produced by the Enforcement Directorate later in the evening, in the same area -- on Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Marg -- ITO proved to be the nerve centre of action in the aftermath of the dramatic arrest of the party’s national convener.

The chaos spread almost to the adjoining Vikas Marg and the Bhahadur Shah Zafar Marg with a posse of security forces blocking off the entry to DDU Marg.

Several AAP ministers, including water and finance minister Atishi and health minister Saurabh Bhardwaj were among those detained by the police. They, along with several AAP MLAs and hundreds of party supporters were removed from DDU Marg and forced into buses by the Delhi Police to be taken away from the spot, police said.

After Kejriwal’s arrest, Delhi environment minister and the convener of AAP’s Delhi unit Gopal Rai addressed party workers outside the CM’s residence late on Thursday night and announced a nationwide protest outside the offices of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and urged supporters to reach AAP’s headquarters at DDU Marg in large numbers at 10am on Friday to protest against their leader’s arrest.

On Friday, DDU Marg was barricaded and traffic was diverted around it with deployment of over 800 personnel from Delhi Police, Rapid Action Force and Central Reserved Police. The city police also imposed prohibitory orders in area under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), prohibiting assembly of four or more people. Two Metro stations -- ITO and Lok Kalyan Marg -- were closed to prevent protesters from reaching DDU Marg or moving close to the Prime Minister’s residence, police said.

AAP workers started gathering near the party office around 9am and raised raising slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The workers were carrying placards with “Main Bhi Kejriwal” written on them and shouted slogans against “central agencies” and “dictatorship in the country”.

At 10:30am, Bharadwaj reached the protest site but was not allowed by police to go to the party office. Those protesting outside the office then rushed towards the ITO intersection, where they were detained along with Bharadwaj.

“We wanted to protest peacefully but they are not allowing us and pushing us instead. This is dictatorship by the Modi government and it’s being done just to win the Lok Sabha elections. I urge people to protest from wherever they are,” Bharadwaj said.

A few minutes later, Atishi reached DDU Marg with a group of supporters and walked to the middle of the junction where she sat and raised slogans. She was, however, held by women police officials and forcibly removed from the spot.

“This is a fight to save the Constitution. People of Delhi love Arvind Kejriwal and they will show their resentment in the next elections,” said Kuldeep Kumar, MLA and AAP’s East Delhi Lok Sabha candidate.

Meanwhile, Friday’s protest led to traffic chaos in parts of central Delhi as police blocked DDU Marg. The congestion spilled to Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Minto Road, Vikas Marg and Sikandra Road.

Deputy commissioner of police Harsha Vardhan said that adequate security arrangements were made and traffic diversions were put in place near the court and DDU Marg. “It’s not a designated protest site and since many important offices and vital installations are located around the area,” he said adding that 80 protesters were detained and later released.

Protests in other cities

The party also mobilised protests in other parts of the country, leading demonstrations in Rajasthan, Kerala, Haryana, Punjab, Odisha, Assam, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka.

Police in Punjab, the only other state AAP rules, and Haryana, used water cannons to disperse protesters. In Kurukshetra, AAP workers staged a demonstration near the residence of chief minister Nayab Singh Saini. As AAP workers tried to gherao the CM’s residence by breaching the barricades set up there, police lathicharged them and used water cannons to stop them.

At the protest site in Punjab’s Mohali, AAP workers said some of them were injured when water cannon was used.