Police baton-charged supporters of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement on Monday as they sought to march on parliament in the capital New Delhi, despite authorities denying permission for the protest.
The months-old movement and the planned protest are seen as the biggest public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his third term in office, drawing millions of supporters on social media before broadening its appeal.
A police decision to forcibly move hunger-striking activist Sonam Wangchuk to a hospital on Saturday has galvanised the movement, with thousands of supporters arriving through the night at the protest site of Jantar Mantar in the heart of New Delhi for the march on the opening day of parliament’s monsoon session.
Delhi police held meetings with Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) members, but no consensus had yet been reached, Sachin Sharma, Delhi’s Deputy Commissioner of Police, told Reuters.
“The protest site has already run out of space and this can lead to an untoward situation,” he said, adding that there were around 10,000 protesters on Monday morning.
