After 100 Days, Shaheen Bagh Protest Ends As Police Clears The Venue Over Coronavirus Lockdown

The women-led protests in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh area against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) has come to an end on Tuesday after the police moved in and cleared the venue.

The police action came under Section 144 of CrPC which came into effect in the national capital as the country battles the Coronavirus outbreak. After the restrictions were announced, most of the protesters had left the venue by Monday evening, but some had stayed back.

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These people too were informed that not more than four people would be allowed to gather at the protest site due to the prohibitory orders. The cops had brought in cranes to remove the temporary structures erected along the road. The massive tent under which the protests were held were also dismantled. Police said they have taken all the tents and billboards agitators had put up in Shaheen Bagh.

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¡°Shaheen Bagh has been cleared. We requested them to vacate the road. They continued to ignore the request,¡± RP Meena, deputy commissioner of police South East Delhi, said.

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Earlier, even after the coronavirus outbreak the protesters had refused to give up and had instead said that the only two women will sit under each tent and maintain a distance of more than a metre. They had also said that no protester will now be allowed to sit at the site for more than four hours as preventative measures against the spread of the virus and had decided that no children or elderly person will be allowed to participate in the sit-in.

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In the past few days, similar protests across the country against CAA and NRC had ended their protests in the fear of the epidemic outbreak.

With this, one of the most unique and resilient protests in India in recent times has come to an end.

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It began in December 2019 and was led by mostly women from the Muslim community. Some elderly women who were also part of the protests became the faces of the movement.

It had its fair share of controversies also including allegations leveled by the BJP as the protesters were being paid cash and the death of an infant who used to accompany his mother to the protests every day. It also was one of the most talked-about issues during the Delhi Assembly elections last month. There was also an incident where a gunman had opened fire near the protest venue.