The protest at Mumbai's Shivaji Park in support of CJP's stir against CEC Gyanesh Kumar intensified on Sunday evening after Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and MNS's Amit Thackeray arrived with hundreds of supporters, triggering sporadic sit-ins and sloganeering.
Mumbai Police registered an FIR and detained 300 protesters, including activist Anjali Damania, who gathered at Shivaji Park. The Thackeray cousins slammed the BJP governments at the Centre and Maharashtra and sought the release of those detained.
Read more - The FIR Factory
Aaditya, joined by brother Tejas Thackeray, claimed police had attacked and manhandled Shiv Sainiks, including women, outside Sena Bhavan nearby. "We have appreciated Mumbai Police several times in the past for the way they handled protests. However, they are acting like the Delhi Police now. If they behave like this, there will be protests everywhere. Maharashtra is not going to stop, and this is because of the local police," he said.
"I am giving a call to the entire Mumbai to come to Shivaji Park. This protest will not subside now. If you touch protesters, then the agitation will intensify till Gyanesh Kumar resigns," said Aaditya, who climbed atop a police vehicle with detained protesters inside.
Amit Thackeray questioned the reason behind the police detaining the protesters. "From tomorrow our MNS activists will be there to protest," he said.
The leaders and workers of Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS demonstrated outside Shivaji Park police station, where most of the detainees had been taken.
Several students were detained at the entrance of Shivaji Park, with some of them being sent to Worli camp, Tardeo and Worli police station. "We had just come to visit the park, but the police detained us," a person who was detained.
All detained protesters were released later.
Read more - Snuffed Before Spark
What Mumbai shows is diffusion. The Delhi protest against SIR and CEC was initially seen as a Delhi-centric, AISA-CJP mobilization. Now, with Shiv Sena UBT, MNS, and activists like Anjali Damania joining, it has become a pan-urban opposition symbol, linking Maharashtra's politics of protest with Delhi's electoral integrity debate.
If Delhi's model is barricades, Mumbai's warning is: barricades breed more parks.
Tags: #MumbaiProtest #ShivajiPark #AadityaThackeray #AmitThackeray #CJP #CEC #AnjaliDamania #MumbaiPolice #ShivSenaUBT