PIX: Kejriwal, disabled people held near PM's residence

Amid high drama, India Against Corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal and nearly 100 others, including disabled people, were detained on Friday, after they were stopped from marching towards Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence to demand the resignation of Salman Khurshid, alleging irregularities by a Non-Governmental Organisation run by him.

Kejriwal and nearly 100 activists of the Rashtriya Vikalang Party and IAC marched towards the prime minister's Race Course Road residence from Janpath around noon, but were prevented from moving ahead after about 50 metres into their march.

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Waving the tricolour and raising slogans against Khurshid, the protesters sat in front of barricades manned by a large number of police personnel.

Kejriwal then announced that the day-long protest will now be an indefinite one till Khurshid resigns from the Cabinet. He also demanded the arrest of the minister and his wife Louise Khurshid, who is the project director of the NGO Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust.

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Around 3 pm, police asked the protesters including Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai, to end the protest on the road. They said that only the movement's leaders could be taken to the prime minister's residence.

This was rejected by the activists and soon, police detained all of them. Activists, including Kejriwal, whose shirt was torn, alleged that they were manhandled.

Kejriwal was taken to Bawana in a police van while other activists were taken to the Parliament Street police station.

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The activist said that this was a fight to the finish. "Now let's make this place another Tahrir Square," he said, in a reference to the uprising in Egypt last year, which led to the overthrowing of the Hosni Mubarak regime.

The Kejriwal-led IAC had been maintaining that it was a protest programme by RVP and they were just guests. But after Kejriwal's protest, the IAC started sending text messages, asking people to join the protest.

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Kejriwal claimed he had sought an appointment from the Prime Minister's Office, but was turned down. The IAC had alleged financial irregularities in the functioning of the Trust run by Khurshid and his wife Louis, a charge denied by both. Khurshid has also threatened to take Kejriwal to court.

In a statement, IAC said Kejriwal and other activists have decided not to leave the makeshift jail in Bawana until Khurshid is removed from his post.

"Both the minister and his wife are influential people and they can tamper with evidence," Kejriwal said.

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While Rai was taken to Parliament Street Police Station along with some supporters, Kejriwal and Sisodia were taken to the makeshift jail at Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Bawana. Later, Rai was also taken to Bawana.

"We call upon all those people sympathising with the cause to come forward and join the satyagraha for removal of the Union law minister," he said.

Similar protests were observed in many other cities including Farukkhabad, Lucknow, Amritsar, Patna, Bhopal, Dehradun, Indore, Jaiur, Raipur, Ludhiana, Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai, he said.

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