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Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad escaped when police tried to detain him at Delhi's Jama Masjid area on Friday during the massive protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as his supporters escorted him from the spot.
He was earlier denied permission for a protest march from Jama Masjid to Jantar Mantar.
Azad, who recently announced that he would float his own political outfit was present in solidarity with the anti-CAA protesters. He led his supporters during the protest at the historic mosque. Tens of hundreds of people turned up in Jama Masjid area of Old Delhi on Friday in a major protest against the CAA and raised slogans denouncing the newly-enacted law.
Protesters carried posters of nationalist leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar at the rally and demanded that the new law be withdrawn. Slogans of "Aazadi" and "Tanashahi Nahi Chalegi" were raised by the protesters.
Delhi Police Public Relations Officer MS Randhawa was also present at the spot to oversee the situation and appealed to people gathered at Jama Masjid to disperse peacefully. According to police, the situation is being monitored using drones.
The protesters amassed at the masjid complex and across the nearby roads. Protests have been held at different places in the national capital ever since the Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, and it got assent from the President becoming a law.
This comes amid widespread protests across the country against the newly-enacted citizenship law, which grants Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.