A fresh round of violence was briefly reported in central Delhi on Wednesday night after protesters and security personnel clashed at Sansad Marg, near The Park hotel, amid the ongoing students’ stir. Security personnel, including Delhi Police and the Rapid Action Force (RAF), lobbed tear gas shells at protesters who had spilled onto the road as protesters pelted stones at police personnel and chased them onto the main radial road of Connaught Place.
Event Context
At least five police officers were injured after they were dragged and assaulted by protesters, said Additional DCP (New Delhi) Anand Mishra. Some of them also suffered injuries due to stone pelting. ACP (CP) Vivek Bhagat was allegedly hit on the head several times and is in critical condition, he added.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which is at the centre of this protest, said at least 4-5 protesters were also injured.
The scuffle erupted around 8.15-8.30pmafter an argument between some protesters. Then some pelted stones at the police, hitting at least one official, and moved towards the police barricades. Police allegedly began a lathi-charge to control the crowds and fired tear gas. Some policemen were assaulted at this time.
Minutes later, an HT reporter at the spot received an internet shutdown text from the service provider. “The government asked telecom service providers to shut down the internet in the central Delhi area. Barring order received for 1.5 km surrounding Jantar Mantar from 6 pm to tomorrow 6 am,” said two people aware of the matter within the industry.
Newly appointed commissioner of police Anurag Kumar was present at Sansad Marg police station at the time of the incident.
An eyewitness, Divyanshu Chauhan, 22, said, “Nihangs were trying to intervene but they wielded weapons and one protester got hurt because of them. Police then tear gassed the protesters for 5-10 minutes. I feel most of us are here for the right cause but some people are trying to create ruckus.”
Kaif, a student from Delhi, said, “During stone pelting, the crowd was running and some of them were throwing bottles. Police then started tear gas shelling but the protesters picked 3-4 of them and hurt policemen.”
Since evening, police presence around the protest site had been reduced and, particularly on Tolstoy Marg and Sansad Marg towards CP, areas where police were present in large numbers till Tuesday, there were virtually no personnel.
A senior police officer said this was because they had stopped checking people at entry points to the Jantar Mantar site. “We appreciate that they are doing it on their own, as there is no way we can deploy personnel to check thousands of protesters. Metal detectors and scanning machines also cannot be installed because they take up space. We do not have the manpower for that and have to deploy our personnel for law and order management in other areas.”
The clashes were brief and limited to Sansad Road. The situation returned largely to normal within an hour as multiple appeals by police personnel and CJP volunteers to keep the peace did the rounds. The Jantar Mantar side had been cordoned off from the Sansad Marg intersection with RAF and riot control vehicles.
At the protest site, in a bid to maintain the peace, police allowed a volunteer to stand on top of a police bus with a mic asking protesters not to carry out stone-pelting as it drove around. “Our efforts will fail if this behaviour continues. One mistake will wipe off our efforts that we made in the last 25 days,” the volunteer was heard saying.
Team Analysis
In contrast to the heavy police presence seen earlier in the week, security personnel largely withdrew from the immediate protest site by evening, maintaining barricades only at the entrance to Tolstoy Marg from Janpath and near the NDMC Convention Centre on the opposite side. Protesters filled the entire area, carrying placards, waving flags and raising slogans demanding accountability over the examination controversy.
The mood turned increasingly charged as darkness fell. Rhythmic chants echoed across the tree-lined street while groups of Gen Z protesters climbed atop police barricades and barricade trailers, using them as makeshift stages to wave flags and lead slogans. Posters calling for the resignation of the Union education minister and the Prime Minister reappeared in large numbers after being largely absent a day earlier.
“There is anger, but also determination. We came back because the issue has not been resolved. Many of us were scared after what happened on Monday, but today the turnout shows students are not willing to back down,” said Aditya Sharma, a 21-year-old engineering student from Jaipur.
CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, wrestler Bajrang Poonia, who was at the centre of the wrestlers’ protests against the then Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment and Bharatiya Kisan union leader Rakesh Tikait also came to express support.
“Today is the first day we have come here. We told our parents that the college had reopened after the semester break and that we had classes. Yesterday, we collected money and arranged all these things. It was surprising that many of our friends, who usually do not contribute for college fests or farewell parties, willingly sent money for this,” said a fourth-year student.
Match Outlook
Some volunteers could be seen removing stones from the road so that they couldn’t be used.
Jagdev Kadian, a CJP volunteer, said, ‘The police are actually cooperating with us today. There have been some people who have entered and created ruckus. We are sitting with the police and trying to control the crowd.”
Thousands pour in
Despite barricading and several metro stations being shut for hours, a huge number of people, young and old, poured into central Delhi all through Wednesday.
By dusk, the crowd had swelled several times over Tuesday’s turnout, filling the protest site and spilling beyond Tolstoy Marg onto Sansad Marg. Protesters occupied the stretch from the Connaught Place outer circle to Jantar Mantar, prompting authorities to cordon off the entire road to traffic up till the Parliament Street police station.
