ABVP activists baton-charged in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH - Police Friday baton-charged Akhil Bharatiya Vidharthi Parishad (ABVP) activists, protesting against the education policies of the Congress-led Haryana government, after they refused to disperse.

Nearly 300 members of the ABVP, affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had gathered at the rally ground in Sector 25 and shouted slogans against the government.

After the protest, ABVP members started moving towards Haryana Raj Bhawan, as they intended to submit a memorandum to the governor.

“We could not allow them to move in such huge numbers as they can disturb law and order of the city. We tried to talk to them and told them to send two or three representatives to submit the memorandum. But they were adamant and started mishandling us,” said a police official here.

He added, “Then we had to resort to minor caning to disburse the mob.”

Police also detained Haryana ABVP leader Sri Niwas for sometime but later freed him.

“Earlier we had met Haryana government officials Sep 4 but nothing fruitful came out of the meeting. Therefore, today we had decided to bring out a peaceful protest march and to give the memorandum, about our demands, to governor,” he told reporters.

“But Chandigarh police did not listen to us and they started beating us without any provocation. We have decided to further intensify our movement from here,” he added.

On their demands, Sri Niwas said: “We want the government to stop the privatisation of the education system as they are taking it as a money minting machine in Haryana. We also want to revive the practice of students’ body elections in Haryana colleges and universities.”