After Section 144 was imposed in Delhi in the face of Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak, in the early hours of 24th March, Tuesday, the Delhi Police had first urged the protestors to clear the area and when they had refused to comply, protesters were detained and the area was cleared. In a video shared by News Tak, protestors were seen cursing the cops after they were being taken away.
57 seconds into the video, a man sporting a skull cap could be heard saying, “Aab inki maarji hai jo chaha kar sakta hai…Inka raaj hai aab toh… (They can do whatever they want.. They are at the helm of power)”
At 1:09 seconds, a Muslim woman clad in Burkha and saffron headscarf said, “Dekh lijiye humko pakad kar le jaa rahe hai, inn logo ko haay lagegi (See, they are detaining me… They will get my curse)”
DCP of South East Delhi said, “People at the protest site in Shaheen Bagh were requested today to clear the site as lockdown has been imposed. But after they refused, action was taken against violators as the assembly was unlawful. Protest site has been cleared. Some protestors have been detained”.
The cops also used bulldozers to clear the barricaded tents and stages that had been illegally constructed by the Shaheen Bagh protestors. Disregarding the total lockdown orders, a crowd then gathered at the Shaheen Bagh protest site after the police removed the tent and cleared up the road.
Earlier, in complete disregard to the “Janata Curfew” recommended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday to highlight the significance of home quarantine in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, a Shaheen Bagh protestor was quoted as saying, “On Sunday, we will sit under small tents. Only two women will sit under each tent and maintain a distance of more than a metre between them.”
In a viral video, one of the Shaheen Bagh protestors could be heard arguing how coronavirus can also happen to those who travel in the metro but no one is asking them to stop. However, everyone wants Shaheen Bagh protests to end. They believe that coronavirus is a ploy by Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to get them to end the protests.
