Shaheen Bagh: Police briefly reopens key road shut due to protests

A main roadway near Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh—The epicentre of the anit-CAA protest—was reopened briefly by the Uttar Pradesh and Delhi Police 69 days after it was blocked off. The opening of the roadway for 40 minutes today to ease traffic comes two days after the Supreme Court appointed mediators met those who have been staging a sit-in for more than two months

"We urged protesters to come up with creative solutions to the traffic situation, while simultaneously protecting their right to protest," senior lawyer Sanjay Hegde, one of the mediators, said after meeting the protesters for the second successive day on Thursday.

The Protesters, however, remained determined on continuing with their sit-in at the location and told the interlocutors that once the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizen are rolled back, they will not only move out of the road but also clean it.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran, were picked as mediators as the matter cuncluded in court. They were assigned a task of convincing the demonstrators to continue their protest in another location, so the roadway can reopen.

The shutting off of the road that links Noida and Faridabad had on many occasions flagged by the BJP as a law and order problem and was made the highlight of its campaign for the recently concluded Delhi assembly polls.

The Shaheen Bagh protest have made headlines throughout the globe and stimulated protest across the nation. Hundreds and thousands of people have been demonstrating on the road for over a month against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

A plea last week sought instructions to the centre and others for the removal of protesters from Shaheen Bagh. It stated protesters are unlawfully protesting in opposition to the CAA by hindering the common road linking Delhi to Noida.

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