Mumbai cops barricade Gateway of India following protests

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, February 25

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The Mumbai Police barricaded the Gateway of India after several people held candle-lit marches there in the wee hours of on Tuesday following the riots in New Delhi.

Police said people began assembling at Gateway from late Monday evening onwards after a social media message asking them to light candles at the venue went viral. The protesters were dispersed while a few people who were walking outside the Taj Mahal Hotel were taken away. No one was detained, the duty officer at the Mumbai Police control room said.

Shortly after midnight around a hundred people assembled at Marine Drive. However police asked them to leave. Several people who came to Marine Drive with candles were asked to move to Azad Maidan opposite the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station that has been designated as the site to hold protests in Mumbai. Later this morning, Deputy Commissioner of Police Sangramsingh Nishandar told reporters that everyone who were holding protests were allowed to go home and no charges have been pressed.

Mumbai Police later went on a high alert following the violent incidents in the capital. Security personnel were deployed across the city to prevent any untoward incidents. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also held a meeting with top police officials to review the law and order situation in Mumbai and other cities.