The South Delhi Municipal Corporation began a demolition drive today in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, but stopped a while later after hundreds of residents and a number of opposition party workers gathered in protest on May 9.
Protests erupted in Shaheen Bagh ahead of an anti-encroachment drive on May 9 as hundreds of people including women started dharna in the area as soon as the SDMC officials reached the spot with bulldozers to carry out the exercise. Protesters raised slogans against the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) as well as the central government and demanded to stop the action. (Source: PTI)
2/6
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation began a demolition drive today in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, but stopped a while later after hundreds of residents and a number of opposition party workers gathered in protest on May 9. (Source: PTI)
3/6
No buildings were razed down before the bulldozers retreated. (Source: AP)
4/6
Amid heavy police presence on May 9, bulldozers arrived in Shaheen Bagh, a neighborhood that in 2020 became a site of intense protest after the Parliament passed a controversial bill the previous year that amended the country's citizenship law. (Source: AP)
5/6
Officials have said these demolition drives target illegal buildings and not any particular religious group. But critics argue such moves are the latest attempt to harass and marginalize Muslims. (Source: AP)
6/6
Residents in Shaheen Bagh also questioned the timing of the move to bring in bulldozers, saying many buildings in the neighborhood have existed for decades with no interference from local authorities. Previously, officials termed the recent demolition drives as "routine exercises" to bring down illegal properties. (Source: AP) (With inputs from AP)
