Anna camp knocks on ministers’ doors

Police said 122 protesters were detained from Chanakyapuri,34 from Parliament Street and 250 from Tughlaq Road. All were detained under Section 65 of the Delhi Police Act.

“We detained around 60 people from Kapil Sibal’s residence,25 from outside Pranab Mukherjee’s house and about 100 from Sheila Dikshit’s residence. Some of the protesters reached Ajay Maken’s house but they did not stop there. So we could not detain them,” said K C Dwivedi,Additional Commissioner of Police (New Delhi).

Additional police personnel were also reportedly deployed. “Though a large number of our policemen were busy with Birla Mandir arrangements for the Janmashtami celebrations,we managed to control the situation. We were also provided with four companies of the Central Reserve Police Force,” Dwivedi said.

According to police,the first pro-Hazare protest was held outside Sibal’s Teen Murti Marg residence around 9 am. Eyewitnesses said the demonstrators sang “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram,Kapil Sibal ko Sanmati de Bhagwaan” and offered him flowers,plucked from a nearby garden.

The detainees,including students,elderly people and women,were taken to the Chanakyapuri police station.

Policemen said the demonstrators continued to shout slogans and wave the Tricolour,even inside the police station. “We gathered at Nehru Planetarium and went to meet Kapil Sibal to give him a ‘get well soon’ card and offer him flowers. We were protesting peacefully,but police did not allow us to meet him,” said G G Mehta (62),a retired government official who had come from Rohini.

At least 400 people protested outside Dikshit’s residence around 11.30 am and blocked the Janpath road. “They waved black flags,apart from the Tricolour and raised anti-government slogans. They sat for almost 45 minutes on the road and then walked towards Ramlila Maidan. The traffic had to be diverted from 11.30 am to 12.15 pm,” a senior police officer said.

Demonstrators also gathered outside Mukherjee’s house in the afternoon,but were reportedly not allowed to meet him. The detainees were taken to the Parliament Street police station. “We had come to give him flowers,but policemen say he is in Kolkata,” said Anita Bhatia (55).

Meanwhile,precautionary security arrangements were made near the Safdarjung Road residence of Home Minister P Chidambaram,Kushak Road residence of Law Minister Salman Khurshid and Pandara Park house of MP Sandeep Dikshit.