'48-hour' satyagraha against CAA ends in just 4 hours

People protest against the CAA at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Friday. DH PHOTO/Pushkar V

Protesters arrive with candlelights to protest against the CAA at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Friday. DH PHOTO/JANARDHAN B K

A plan by various student groups to start a 48-hour satyagraha against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act at Freedom Park on Friday evening was abandoned four hours later about 10 pm under threat of arrests and charge-sheeting.

At 6 pm, a small group of around two dozen students had initially gathered outside the venue to go ahead with the satyagraha though there had been no response from the police to their “intimation” for a protest filed a week ago.

Nevertheless, 22 students made their way into Freedom Park and began to hold placards against CAA. Police reacted swiftly by preventing students from entering the park by blocking the entrance with barricades, forcing a larger group of about 60 students to conduct a sit-in protest on the pavement outside the park.

By 10 pm, however, facing threat of arrest and FIRs being filed against them, students leader within the rally, which had grown to 300 people, moved to disperse their people.

“The FIRs mean we have to appear in court repeatedly. So we decided to disperse,” a student leader told DH.

He added that they intended to approach DCP (West) on Saturday in another bid to secure permission for the satyagraha.