India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 22— One of the roads that connect Delhi and Noida and were closed due to the on-going anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh was opened for traffic Saturday afternoon after being remained closed for around 70 days.
This is seen as the first breakthrough in the deadlock after three days of mediation talks between the protesters and a Supreme Court-appointed team of lawyers.
Video – Afsal Rahman of India Tomorrow
The road opened is near Kalindi Kunj red light crossing and connects Noida to Delhi’s Mathura Road through Jamia Nagar areas like Shaheen Bagh, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Millia Islamia, Escorts and Holy Family hospitals.
Photo – Afsal Rahman of India Tomorrow
The main Kalindi Kunj-Sarita Vihar highway on which the anti-CAA protest is being held for over two months is still closed. On Friday, the protesters told the mediators that they have no objection if non-protest side of this main road is opened if Delhi Police ensures security of the protesters.
The road opened today was not closed by the protesters. The Police had barricaded it after the protest started on December 15 last year.
Friday morning, the police had opened another closed Noida-Faridabad road but closed it after an hour or so.
The Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors Friday night expressed disappointment over the decision of the Police to re-barricade Noida-Faridabad road after brief opening Friday morning. The road, more than 3 kilometers from the Shaheen Bagh protest site, was opened briefly Friday morning after 69 days of its closure by the police.
“This morning we were very happy about the opening of the Noida-Faridabad road by the police. This brought substantial relief to the Faridabad commuters. However, we were informed that soon thereafter the road was again barricaded by the police for no apparent reason. This was extremely distressing to us and we wish to emphasize that the action of re barricading the roads defeats the very purpose of confidence building on the part of police,” said senior lawyers of Supreme Court Sanjay Hegde and Sadhna Ramachandran, who were appointed by the top court on Monday to talk to Shaheen Bagh protesters for clearance of the road blockade.
The protesters told the mediators Friday evening that they have no objection if the non-protest side of the Shaheen Bagh road is opened but the police will have to take responsibility for their security.
“Opening of one way of the road which was not originally blocked by the protestors was discussed as a first step. The protestors clarified again that the blockade on the non-protest side had originally been imposed by the Delhi police and not by them. However later the protestors felt that the closed non – protest part of the road would ensure their security especially in the light of some incidents of attempted firing upon them earlier. In principle the protestors were not fundamentally against opening of the non-protest side of the road if their security could be guaranteed in writing by the Delhi police under suitable orders of the Supreme Court,” the mediators said in their statement.
