Police vacate protesters at Shaheen Bagh amid coronavirus outbreak : Sanjay Patil

 Sanjay Patil : New Delhi, Mar 24 (Agency) Protestors against the citizenship law at Shaheen Bagh were vacated by the Delhi Police amid coronavirus outbreak on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The women agitators have been on a sit-in at Shaheen Bagh for over three months, protesting the newly amended Citizenship Act .Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) R P Meena said people at the protest venue in Shaheen Bagh were requested to vacate the site as lockdown has been imposed due to coronavirus outbreak.

However, when they refused action was taken and they were vacated, the official said.

Delhi Police on Tuesday vacated South-East Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area where protests against the Citizenship law and National Register of Citizens (NRC) were on for over three months.

Nine people were taken into custody by the police including six women and three men. The police say that action was taken so prevent any inconvenience in transporting essential commodities and emergency vehicles.

Section 144 of the CrPC that prohibits the assembly of four or more people at a place has been imposed in Delhi in wake of the coronavirus infection. Under the section, people cannot gather or hold protests.

For several days, police had been asking the protesters to leave the site due to the outbreak of COVID-19, however, the protesters did not pay any heed. Although the crowd had significantly reduced from Monday, a few people were still protesting at the site.

Tents and other things related to the protest were removed by the police as well.

The Shaheen Bagh area made headlines for months and also became a major issue in the recently held Delhi Assembly elections.

The protest started in December last year due to which several roads were closed around the area, making it difficult for commuters travelling from Delhi to Noida and vice versa. The Supreme Court also tried to intervene and appointed mediators to convince the protesters to shift to a different site but the talks failed to convince them.