Just hours after students and teachers of JNU were attacked by a masked mob in Delhi on Sunday, 5th January, hundreds of protesters gathered at the Gateway of India in Mumbai to protest against the violence and show their solidarity with JNU.
The ‘Occupy Gateway’ protests gained momentum over the last two days, but they have now been called off after the protesters were forced out by the police. They were forcibly moved to Azad Maidan, 2 km away from Gateway of India.
Several images and videos of protesters being forcibly evicted from Gateway of India have surfaced on the Internet.
Protesters protesting against JNU violence at Gateway of India evicted, relocated to Azad Maidan
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) January 7, 2020
Read @ANI story | https://t.co/DU6aOsjEkP pic.twitter.com/1wQPuQipKs
Cops move protesters (protesting against #JNUViolence) from Gateway of India to Azad Maidan
— Sarfaraz (@Sarfara92621669) January 7, 2020
(Photos: ANI) pic.twitter.com/b0EMNHDSuy
This morning- protesters have been detained from Gateway of India and ‘relocated’ to Azad Maidan by Mumbai Police.
— Zeba Warsi (@Zebaism) January 7, 2020
pic.twitter.com/jYMIUfzZvv
People who were protesting in solidarity with #JNU at #Mumbai‘s Gateway of India have been “relocated” to Azad Maidan, said the police.#MumbaiProtest #JNUViolence
— NDTV (@ndtv) January 7, 2020
More on https://t.co/NLUejW1DIJ pic.twitter.com/Pbl5zqmCED
According to a report by NDTV, while the organisers have called off the protests at the Gateway of India, they will continue with their protests at other locations in the city.
We were forcibly shifted here to Azad Maidan by police. But now we have called off our Occupy Gateway protest. It was a successful protest. Our resistance will continue. We have a long line up of programmes.
Mumbai Police has forcefully detained protestors from Gateway of India and taken them to Azad Maidan.
— Anish Gawande (@anishgawande) January 7, 2020
This is a clear violation of democratic rights. Come to Azad Maidan! #SOSMUMBAI pic.twitter.com/96eo0uFUez
Talking about the impact of the protests, the organisers said:
Our two-day protests have sent the required message across the country on our resistance towards the current situation in the country. It is unprecedented that we were able to occupy Gateway for 40 hours and we were successful.
Breaking: Mumbai Police have shifted close to 100 protesters at Gateway of India to Azad Maidan early on Jan 7 morning. Police say they were moved as the protest was affecting tourists at the monument as well as traffic movement. #GatewayOfIndia #GatewayProtest
— Sachin Kalbag (@SachinKalbag) January 7, 2020
Protestors have now gathered at #AzadMaidan. Gateway of India cleared. Heavy police presence at both places. pic.twitter.com/PY7UM4eJSh
— Pankaj Upadhyay (@pankajcreates) January 7, 2020
Reports also suggest that the police dragged away protesters after they refused to comply with the orders. Explaining the reason for forcing the protesters out, a police officer told NDTV that there are no toilet or water facilities at the Gateway of India and it was becoming a challenge to control the crowd.
