Police used tear gas and water cannons as hundreds of anti-corruption activists led by Arvind Kejriwal staged noisy protests near Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residences.
What began as a trickle of protests swelled dramatically after noon, taking Delhi Police by surprise as large numbers of India Against Corruption (IAC) supporters carried out their threat of besieging the houses of Manmohan Singh, Gandhi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
But while the area Gadkari’s residence was largely peaceful, the show of strength took place near Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence and near 7 Race Course Road, the prime minister’s residence.
As slogan shouting protesters broke through police barricades after hours of drama in the heart of the capital, police opened up the water cannons and used lathis to disperse them.
Hundreds were arrested and forced into waiting buses.
Both Kejriwal and lawyer-cum-IAC leader Prashant Bhushan accused police of using force without provocation.
“There was no need to do all this,” Bhushan said, speaking from inside a bus. “They have unnecessarily used water cannons and tear gas.”
Kejriwal called the protests “a success” and said the IAC had managed to drive home the point that both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were to blame for the irregular coal blocks allocation — an issue that has crippled parliament.
“We have exposed the real face of the government,” Kejriwal told a defiant crowd drenched by water. “We have shown that both the Congress and BJP have looted this country.”
Around 2.30 p.m., more than seven hours after it all began, Kejriwal formally called off the protests.
Police justified the use of force, saying the IAC protest in the VVIP areas was unauthorized.
Early in the morning, police detained Kejriwal and six activists but released them after about two hours from a police station when hundreds of supporters gathered shouting slogans.