Nido Taniam protest: Northeastern students lathicharged

New Delhi, Feb 14: Scores of Northeastern students and those from JNU, demanding justice for Nido Taniam, were today lathicharged by the police at Vijay Chowk when they tried to march towards the Rasthrapati Bhawan.

The demonstrators, who were protesting at Jantar Mantar marched towards the seat of power at around 2 PM but were stopped by the police at Vijay Chowk.

As the protesters persisted on marching towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan and broke the first barricade erected by the security agencies, police had to resort to use of force to disperse them. Policemen chased the protesters till Central Secretariat Metro Station from where around 50 to 60 demonstrators were detained and taken to Parliament Street Police Station in two buses. Some of the protesters were also injured amid the chaos, although police denied any lathicharge.

"We have to physically evict them. There was no lathicharge. If somebody is injured we will provide them first aid. We have detained 50 to 60 people, but they have violated section 144 (which remains imposed in the area), we will see what legal action can be taken in this regard," Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) SBS Tyagi told reporters.

PTI