Protesters marching towards PM's residence stopped by police

New Delhi: Hundreds of people with their hands tied marching towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence to demand the release of Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad and to protest the amended Citizenship Act were stopped in the way by police on Friday.

Amid heavy security arrangement and drone surveillance, the protesters including Bhim Army members started from Dargah Shah-e-Mardan in Jor Bagh in the national capital and were stopped by police at a barricade en route the PM's residence at Lok Kalyan Marg.

They participated in the march with their hands tied, saying they did it so that they could not be blamed for violence and arson during the protest.

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They raised slogans of 'Tanashahi nahi chalegi' and carried posters of Babasheb Ambedkar and Aazad.

"We have tied our hands and are protesting so tomorrow they do not attack us and lie that we were not protesting peacefully," said Majid Jamal, one of the participants in the protest.

Former chairman of the National Commission For Minorities Wajahat Habibullah said the new law is against the basic principles laid down in the Constitution.

"The way people have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh for no fault of theirs, the government needs to remember that when the MPs we elect don't raise voice for us that is when people take to streets to raise their voices themselves," he added.

Drones kept hovering over the protesters keeping a close watch on them. When the protesters were stopped from marching towards their destination, they appealed to the police personnel to allow them to continue their march.

Aazad was arrested for allegedly instigating protesters to indulge in violence in old Delhi's Daryaganj in an inflammatory speech last Friday.

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(PTI)