Bhima Koregaon Raids: Left to lead protest at Jantar Mantar tomorrow

New Delhi, Aug 29: General secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury has announced that the Left parties will stage a protest at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, against the "unethical crackdown" on the five activists.

"There will be a protest at Jantar Mantar tomorrow by the Left and all progressive groups against the unethical crackdown," Yechury told news agency ANI.

The CPI(M) politburo on Tuesday protested against the country-wide raids and subsequent arrests of left-wing activists, suspected to have Maoist links, calling it a brazen attack on democratic rights and civil liberties.

The CPI(M) demanded the withdrawal of the cases against the activists and their immediate release.

"The polit bureau of CPI(M) strongly protests the raids conducted by police authorities on the homes of various civil rights and human rights activists and Left intellectuals," a statement said.

Maharashtra Police yesterday raided the homes of prominent Left-wing activists in several states and arrested at least five of them for suspected Maoist links, sparking a chorus of outraged protests from human rights defenders.

The raids were carried out as part of a probe into an event called Elgar Parishad, or conclave, on December 31 last year, which had later triggered violence at Koregaon-Bhima village.

Prominent Telugu poet Varavara Rao was arrested from Hyderabad, activists Vernon Gonzalves and Arun Farreira from Mumbai, trade union activist Sudha Bhardwaj from Faridabad and civil liberties activist Gautam Navalakha was arrested from New Delhi.