In continuation of the several months’ long agitation against the administration and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Institution of Technology, the students of DBRAIT organised a protest rally that started from DBRAIT to the Secretariat on Thursday.
As per a report, the police team deployed to monitor the situation intercepted the rally at Dairy Farm Junction near Pillar Health Center, while the students, in retaliation, resorted to Chakka Jam, which disrupted the normal flow of traffic at the tri-junctions.
The rally and protest were attended by the students’ parents as well. State President, National Students Union of India (NSUI), Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with his team, gave full ground support to the protest rally.
Other major political parties in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands endorsed the students’ protest rally and demanded that all the demands regarding affiliation be resolved immediately.
About 150 students took to the street to hold the protest rally, which turned out to be a successful one, they claimed.
As per late reports, nearly 30 students were picked up by police and taken to unknown locations. However, it is still not clear whether the students were detained or arrested.
The chakka jam, on the other hand, caused thousands of people to be inconvenienced as all traffic was diverted to the Chakkargaon and Corbyn’s Cove routes, where they experienced several hour-long traffic jams throughout the day.
The Andaman and Nicobar Police used physical force and water cannon to disperse students from the Dairy Farm main road area, and when the police failed to do so, the department used tear gas to disperse students, leaving many students struggling to even breathe and a few senseless for a couple of moments.
When the fire service team was using water cannon on students, a lot of the general public came to safeguard the students and raised their voices against police action. Instead of giving opportunity to the students to recover, the police team used tear gas on the students.
A large number of people in the public who were present at the scene openly criticised the cops and called their actions cowardly.
It was learned that a few students were taken to the hospital in an ambulance after they developed health issues due to the use of tear gas.