NEW DELHI: Youth protesters demanding the education minister’s resignation clashed briefly with police on the streets of New Delhi late on Wednesday, with officers firing tear gas and wielding canes to push them back, police and witnesses said.
More than 10,000 people were estimated to have gathered at the Jantar Mantar protest site in central New Delhi, local media said, as leaders of the “cockroach” movement vowed to continue their month-old protest until the minister resigned over exam paper leaks that affected some 2 million students in May.
The protests have grown into the biggest youth challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power in 2014, with opposition parties echoing the demands of the youth movement and disrupting the monsoon session of parliament that began this week.
Tens of thousands of protesters marched on parliament on Monday in violation of a ban as police and paramilitary personnel sought to push them back by firing tear gas rounds and beating them with canes.
On Wednesday, thousands of protesters started gathering at the Jantar Mantar protest site shouting slogans and waving the Indian flag, while others protested outside parliament.
