The Hindu : New Delhi News : Police stop anti-reservation protesters

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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New Delhi

Police stop anti-reservation protesters

Staff Reporter

Detain 200 as they march towards the residence of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi

Photo: PTI

Grounded: Police using water cannon to disperse agitating medical students belonging to Youth For Equality in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi police on Tuesday used water cannons to disperse Youth For Equality activists who had gathered in Connaught Place to protest against implementation of 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in post-graduate courses.

Human chain

Holding banners and posters, the protesters formed a human chain in the Central Park of Connaught Place before the agitation spilt over to adjoining Janpath. Nearly 200 of them were detained as they began marching towards the residence of United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

‘Beaten up’

A Youth For Equality representative charged that some activists were beaten up by the police.

Around noon on Tuesday, the protesters first formed a human chain outside the Central Park in the Inner Circle of Connaught Place.

Later they moved towards Janpath where they burnt an effigy of Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.

The outfit is demanding that there be no extension of reservation beyond graduation as per the Supreme Court’s order and that the requisite infrastructure must be made available in the higher education institutions before going ahead with reservations.

“We do not want any reservation in post-graduate courses. The Supreme Court order should be implemented in letter and in spirit. The Government should draw up a fresh list of beneficiaries before implementing reservation. There should be no manipulation in the creamy layer issue,” said N. Agasti, a Youth For Equality activist.

Block traffic

The activists also blocked traffic on Janpath. As a result, vehicular movement in the Outer Circle of Connaught Place and adjoining radials came to a standstill for about 30 minutes.

The demonstrators included representatives from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, medical colleges like Maulana Azad Medical College, Lady Hardinge Medical College and All-India Institute of Medical Sciences and Delhi College of Engineering.

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