Delhi’s protest restrictions kept demonstrators away from Jantar Mantar on Saturday, with 45 metro stations closed, roads barricaded across Central Delhi, vehicles checked at city borders and hundreds of people detained, according to on-ground observations and police accounts reported by The Indian Express.
The protest had been called by the Cockroach Janta Party, the All India Students’ Association and others. By 1.30 pm, no protesters had reached the announced site, while a large police and Central Armed Police Forces deployment was concentrated around Parliament Street, Connaught Place and Jantar Mantar.
Around 2,000 to 3,000 police and CAPF personnel were gathered near Parliament Street police station, with approximately 100 personnel positioned at each layer of barricading, The Indian Express reported. Routes around Sansad Marg, Connaught Place and Jantar Mantar had been barricaded by 9 am, and vehicles were diverted away from the area.
Police said around 270 people who had come to the area at night were detained. This included approximately 70 people detained outside Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, where they had stayed overnight ahead of the protest. The report said they remained inside the premises during the morning before being detained when they came out.
The restrictions also disrupted access for people travelling from other parts of Delhi, Noida and neighbouring areas. Patel Nagar was among the closest operational metro stations to Jantar Mantar, but the site was still about a one-and-a-half-hour walk away. More than a dozen CISF personnel were deployed inside the station and around 20 police personnel were stationed outside.
Auto-rickshaw drivers near Patel Nagar were reportedly refusing trips towards Connaught Place because of the barricades. Shared e-rickshaws were charging Rs. 100 per passenger for a five-kilometre journey, with one driver telling The Indian Express that vehicles had to take longer routes around the blocked roads.
At Yamuna Bank, another operational station serving commuters from East Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, a 19-year-old commuter from Noida said he had been unable to reach the protest site. He travelled from Noida Sector 16 to Barakhamba Road, where the metro gates did not open, and then returned to Yamuna Bank. Shared autos were charging Rs. 100 to Barakhamba Road, from where people still had to walk about two kilometres.
Police checks were also reported at Akshardham metro station and along the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. At Chilla, Noida Police, Delhi Police and the Border Security Force were checking commercial buses for large groups travelling towards Delhi. A traffic police officer said authorities were also checking nearby parks for people who had stayed there overnight and might attempt to travel into the city.
Private and commercial vehicles were stopped at the border, with officers checking passenger lists, destinations and identification documents. Commercial four-wheelers were also being checked because some passengers could use app-based taxi services such as Ola and Uber to reach Jantar Mantar. At the DND Flyway, shared commercial vehicles were stopped and their belongings searched.
The police deployment and access restrictions turned travel to a centrally located protest site into a long and uncertain journey for commuters. The report did not state when the barricades, station closures or detentions would end, leaving the next operational steps dependent on the authorities’ security arrangements around Jantar Mantar and Central Delhi.
