New Delhi: Southeast Delhi’s road number 9, connecting Noida to Kalindi Kunj, which is blocked for last 69 days due to ongoing protest at Shaheen Bagh against Citizen Amendment Act (CAA), was opened by a group of protesters on Saturday for sometime before closing it again. Later, the police confirmed that it was opened again.
Meanwhile Sadhana Ramachandran, one of the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors, reached Shaheen Bagh for the fourth round of discussion with the protesters. The stretch of the road was “opened”, though police barricades continued on one side.
Deputy commissioner of police (Southeast) R.P. Meena said: “Road number 9 in Shaheen Bagh was reopened by a group of protesters, but later it was closed by another group”. However, locals later said the road was again reopened by protesters in the evening.
Protesters claimed that they “opened” the stretch, which would allow passage between Noida and South Delhi, at around 5 pm near the protest site, but the Delhi police and the Noida police were continuing to barricade it from one side restricting access to commuters.
The Delhi Police had maintained that it has barricaded adjacent roads due to security reasons. The development came after three days of talks between the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors, senior advocates Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran, and the protesters over the issue of difficulty to commuters due to blocking of roads.
Sadhana Ramachandran reached Shaheen Bagh at around 10 am for the fourth round of discussion with the protesters. “We are not saying that Shaheen Bagh should dismantle. Let’s get that very clear. Shaheen Bagh kayam rahe,” Sadhana Ramachandran told the protesters.
“We are here to talk about roads and let’s stick to it. If you want to go to meet the home minister, you can go. And if you want to go to the government, then go. But, we are not here from the government’s side,” Ms Ramachandran said.
Presenting their demands, the Shaheen Bagh protesters told her that they want “security”. “We want security and the Supreme Court should give an order on the same,” the protesters said. “We want the cases against people of Shaheen Bagh and Jamia to be taken back,” the protesters said.
The road, which connects Noida to south east Delhi and further to Faridabad in Haryana, was closed for traffic in the wake of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest at Shaheen Bagh since December 15. Only emergency vehicles like ambulances and school buses are being allowed to pass through the stretch, the police said.
