AAP workers clash with police at rally, 15 detained

The incident occurred at around 12.30pm, when the AAP rally proceeded towards the District Collectorate near Raopura police station. The police barricaded the approach as the party had sought permission to take out the protest march from Gandhi Nagar Gruh through the city’s Market Char Rasta junction to meet the VMC Commissioner. However, AAP workers changed their route and turned towards Jubilee Baug to reach the Collector’s office.

At Raopura, police and AAP workers clashed for over half an hour after which, 15 AAP workers were detained. A statement from AAP said, “In the last one week, in absence of a hawking zone, the VMC’s action against poor street vendors has been unjustified. Earlier, the civic body confiscated the handcarts and returned them to the owners after extracting a fine. But now, the VMC is seizing the carts and not handing them back to the poor families, who subsist on their incomes from the business. We want to urge the VMC to implement its street vendor’s policy and end the misery of the poor vendors.” In one clash, earlier this week, three VMC officers were injured after angry vendors assaulted them during an anti-encroachment drive at Yakutpura.

Officers of the Raopura police said, “We had granted permission to AAP workers for the rally to proceed from the Market Char Rasta to Khanderao Market office of the VMC. Instead, they took the rally on the route that they didn’t have permission for. Considering the traffic snarl and non-compliance with police order, we restricted them. When they attacked officers on duty, we detained 15 party workers.”