Muslim women protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at Shaheen Bagh were removed by the Delhi Police on Tuesday morning amid the coronavirus lockdown in the national capital.
A total of nine protesters including six women were detained and taken to a nearby police station, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) R P Meena told media.
Shaheen Bagh’s Muslim women had been on a sit-in at the site for over three months to protest the ‘anti-Muslim and unconstitutional’ citizenship law.
They were requested to vacate the site as a lockdown has been imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, action was taken when refused to move, Meena said.
About 50 protesters were at the venue when it was vacated.
“We refused and police detained us,” a protester said.
“We will resume our protest after the coronavirus situation comes under control”, she told media.
“Delhi Police used coercive force to dismantle our protest site, even though it had been scaled down to symbolic form considering COVIDー19 precautions. In the process 6 women and 3 male volunteers have been detained,” official twitter handle of historic Shaheen Bagh anti-CAA protest tweeted following the police action.
“We also ask civil society at large to help ensure no further detainments or arrests take place from the area,” they added.
“Shaheen Bagh has given citizens a lasting hope of the Constitution coming off the pages and into people’s everyday lives. It endures, Shaheen Bagh will live in hearts and imagination,” many twitter handles tweeted.
On Sunday, during the state restrictions due to coronavirus outbreak only five women were at the site while others had left their slippers as a symbol of solidarity.
The women were taking all precautions amid the coronavirus outbreak and sanitisers had been arranged at the venue to ensure utmost hygiene.
Unidentified men had hurled “inflammable substance” near the protest site on Sunday but none of the women protesters present there were injured.
