Demolition drive in Shaheen Bagh halted amid protest

Demolition drive has been halted at Shaheen Bagh after the civic body arrived at the spot along with the Delhi Police.Local residents of Shaheen Bagh Monday stood in front of a bulldozer that arrived to carry out an anti-encroachment drive and shouted slogans. Yasir Imam, a local resident, said that people had gathered against the “targeted demolitions”. The exercise by south Delhi's BJP-controlled civic body started amid heavy police presence but it was met with protests from local residents. As a bulldozer rolled in, supporters of the Congress and AAP, including Khan, reached the area. Khan said he had got all illegal structures in the area removed and there werenone now.

Khan also spoke to representatives of the local market association in the presence of police and got a temporary structure removed. The bulldozer returned soon after. Earlier, Rajpal, a senior functionary of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, had told news agency ANI that the "municipality will do its work". Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta had written to the civic body's mayor last month, demanding removal of encroachment by "Rohingyas, Bangladeshis and anti-social elements". The demolition drive at Shaheen Bagh had started under the shadow of a similar exercise in north Delhi's Jahangirpuri, days after a communal clash broke out in the area during a Hanuman Jayanti procession.