Mumbai Police urges 'peaceful & professional protest'; shifts demonstrators to Azad Maidan

Amid the ongoing protest in Mumbai over the JNU violence, Mumbai Police on Tuesday urged Mumbaikars to abstain from taking any steps that would cause inconvenience to the citizens. Taking to microblogging site Mumbai police said that the protestors were relocated in a peaceful and professional manner from Gateway of India to Azad Maidan in the interest of the general public.

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Speaking to Republic TV DCP of Zone 1, Sangramsingh Nishandar said, "For the past two days, police made several appeals to the protestors. On Monday they marched a protest from Hutatma Chowk to Gateway of India, paralysing the traffic of South Mumbai. They chanted slogans and blocked the roads. We respect their views but we have to maintain law and order in the city".

"As the protests posed difficulty to the tourists and affected the daily routine of residents in the locality, police appealed the protestors to move the rally to Azad Maidan. Even after telling them about unlawful assembly, they still persisted. So we parked our vehicles and began to move the protesters from Gateway to Azad Maidaan, where they will have water and sanitation facilities.  Some did not move and had to be picked up."

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Police take cognizance

The Mumbai Police on Tuesday said serious actions will be taken over the controversial poster shown on Monday's protest against JNU violence at Gateway of India. According to sources, the Maharashtra government ordered the Mumbai Police to relocate the protestors from Gateway of India after the "Free Kashmir" poster was displayed at the protest.

The Police further stated that they will be filing a case against the students under section 135, unlawful gathering at a public place as no prior permission was taken for the protest. The police are also in search for the girl who held the placard, as per sources.

Talking to the media DCP of Zone 1, Sangramsingh Nishandar said, "We have taken serious cognizance of the 'free Kashmir' poster seen in the protest last night at Gateway of India. We are definitely investigating it."

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