New Delhi: Protest against the capital city’s worsening air quality has turned violent with police taking action against protesters who gathered at Man Singh Road in front of the India Gate, according to The Wire.
The action unfolded against the backdrop of smoggy cityscape with protesters holding placards that read ‘We can’t breathe’, ‘Stop poisoning us’.
As the protesters vented their frustrations carrying out sit-in seeking governmental action, police surged forth.
Police reportedly claimed that protesters chilli-sprayed just as barricades got breached.
Delhi’s air quality has plunged into dangerously low for a week with air quality index (AQI) pointing to over 400, which is known to be ‘hazardous’.
Police claimed that protesters broke barricade alongside obstructing ambulances while refusing to move and alleged they used pepper spray on the personnel.
It is reported that at least three to four officers suffered injuries and were taken for treatment.
Alongside arresting 17 people involved in the protest, authorities have charged them with obstruction and assault on public servants under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and later Judicial Magistrate Sahil Monga remanded them to three days on November 24.
Delhi police said that it was the first time pepper spray was used against a personnel in a protest.
Two FIRs have been registered with one at Kartavya Path police station for assault, contempt of public servants and disobedience to lawful orders and another at the Parliament Street police station for conspiracy against the state, obstructing public servants, and other serious offences.
Meanwhile a protesters reportedly said that police were particularly triggered ‘when they heard the slogans that talked about Hidma, Charu’.
‘They began dragging us, to separate us. At first, male police officers were dealing with male protestors and female police officers were dealing with female protestors. But later, male police personnel started dragging even female protestors’, the 18-year-old protester added.
Showcasing abrasions on his legs from police action, another protester said ‘Were we asking for something illegal? Were we calling for something impossible? We were simply reminding the government of our right to live. Yet we were treated as if we were provoking people to bring down the country’.