Politics
Another protest from 'Cockroach Movement' India, opposition leader arrested
- Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi also joined the anti-government protest but was taken away by police officers.
- The protest follows a day after intense clashes between police and demonstrators at a large protest march in the city.
- We will not march again because the police will hurt the youth again, the founder of the movement said at a press conference, according to news channel Al Jazeera.
- Instead of a march, a demonstration was therefore held at the location where demonstrations have been going on for weeks, near Jantar Mantar.
Thousands of supporters of the so-called Cockroach Movement in India have demonstrated again in the capital New Delhi. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi also joined the anti-government protest but was taken away by police officers. The protest follows a day after intense clashes between police and demonstrators at a large protest march in the city.
"We will not march again because the police will hurt the youth again, the founder of the movement said at a press conference, according to news channel Al Jazeera. Instead of a march, a demonstration was therefore held at the location where demonstrations have been going on for weeks, near Jantar Mantar. At this astronomical observatory from the eighteenth century, close to a series of government buildings, demonstrators have been demanding the departure of the Minister of Education for more than a month.
'Tough action against fraud' The reason for the wave of protests is a fraud scandal surrounding entrance exams for medical courses, which resulted in 2.2 million Indians having to retake the exam. According to the news agency, a member of his cabinet said that "as tough as possible" action is being taken against exam fraud, but the demonstrators do not seem to be satisfied with that promise. Opposition leader Gandhi and fellow party members went to Modi's official residence to express their support for the demonstrators.
Videos show the politicians being arrested. The authorities had said in advance that this location was not suitable for a protest. Repression Human rights organizations have condemned the heavy-handed intervention of the police during yesterday's protest march.
Amnesty International calls it an example of how dissidents are suppressed in the country. Officers used tear gas and batons. According to the police, seventy people were arrested, sixty demonstrators were injured and more than a hundred police officers were injured.
The Cockroach Movement was initially intended to be satirical and was mainly active online. The name came about because unemployed youth were compared to cockroaches by a Supreme Court judge. As the Cockroach Janta Party, the youth movement is a parody of Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been in power since 2014.
Source: NOS