JNU violence: Mumbai Police evicts protesters from Gateway of India to Azad maidan

Image courtesy: ANI

Mumbai: Those protesting against violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus at the Gateway of India have been relocated to Azad maidan by the Mumbai Police on Tuesday morning (January 7). The police appealed to organisers to evict the place as the ongoing sit-in will affect the visit of tourists. 

According to the police, the protesters were evicted from the Gateway of India as roads were getting blocked and common Mumbaikar was facing problems. 

Sangramsingh Nishandar, DCP (Zone 1) told ANI that "protesters are evicted from Gateway of India as roads were getting blocked and common Mumbaikar and tourists were facing problems. We had appealed to protesters many times, and have now relocated them to Azad Maidan."

The protests at the Gateway of India was organised by students against the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on January 5. 

Several celebrities including filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and lyricist Vishal Dadlani joined the ongoing protests. Kashyap reportedly said that he was at the protest site to show his solidarity with the students and blamed the government for the attacks in JNU campus, while Dadlani said that he was there in support of a secular India.

"I watched the protests which were going on here and decided to join the students. The government does not want to arrest the perpetrators because they are their own people. The police did not enter JNU to stop the violence but entered the Jamia Millia Islamia where they beat up the students," Kashyap told reporters on Monday night.

Scores of students from different colleges were sloganeering against the Central government exhibiting solidarity with the JNU students injured in the violence that broke out at the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi on January 5. 

Ther were holding placards with "We stand with JNU", "Stop attacks on students" at the Gateway of India. 

Notably, politicians, cutting across party lines, condemned the attack on students which had taken place in JNU on Sunday, urging the administration to take strict action against those found guilty.

As many as 30 students were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the JNU and attacked them and professors with sticks and rods.