Delhi saw a series of scattered flash protests on Saturday after heavy security, barricading, detentions and travel restrictions made it difficult for demonstrators to reach Jantar Mantar, the announced site of the Cockroach Janta Party’s protest. Small groups instead assembled at Dilli Haat, the Safdarjung flyover, Connaught Place, Gole Market, Sansad Marg, Shankar Road and near Raj Ghat, where police detained protesters and cleared several gatherings.
The restrictions followed the detention of senior CJP leaders in the morning. With Jantar Mantar heavily secured, protesters reorganised into smaller groups and moved through different parts of central Delhi. The demonstrations called for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision exercise.
At around 1 pm, All India Students’ Association president Neha Bora, student activists, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan and activist Yogendra Yadav marched from INA towards Dilli Haat. Police stopped them near INA Market and detained them. Officials said around 200 protesters had been detained near Dilli Haat by 6:30 pm. The market was closed to visitors as the demonstrations continued outside.
The Safdarjung flyover near INA became another protest point after Bora and others were stopped while travelling towards Dilli Haat. Around 50 people gathered there at about 3 pm, raising slogans demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation. Police later cleared the flyover, but protesters regrouped after the bus carrying the detained activists moved ahead. A confrontation continued for about two hours before the flyover was cleared around 6 pm. About 50 protesters were detained, while others dispersed.
Several small gatherings also took place across Connaught Place. Around 150 people reached the Outer Circle after moving past multiple barricades, but most were detained within minutes. At another location, around 100 protesters gathered and raised slogans before a police team moved in from Rajiv Chowk Metro station and chased them away. A 23-year-old protester from Noida said the group had carried water, masks and protein bars, but that these preparations were of little use amid the police action.
In the New Delhi area, members of the Students’ Federation of India attempted to move through barricades near the Press Trust of India office on Sansad Marg at about 1 pm. Police used a lathicharge and detained around 30 people, according to the report. Another protest involving about 100 people began at Gole Market at around 2:45 pm, with some protesters clashing with CRPF personnel while attempting to move towards Jantar Mantar.
A smaller demonstration broke out on Shankar Road near Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital at about 4 pm, where around 20 protesters sat in the middle of the road before police removed them. Near Raj Ghat, a group of between 50 and 70 protesters marched for more than a kilometre along Ghata Masjid Road before being detained at a traffic signal.
The day’s events shifted the demonstrations from a designated protest site into roads, market edges, transport approaches and other public spaces across central Delhi. The immediate official action described in the report involved continued barricading, police deployment, detentions and the dispersal of gatherings at multiple locations.
