Vehicular traffic went for a six on Wednesday afternoon after Shia protesters laid siege to NH-24 near Mandawali police station demanding the release of their religious leader Maulana Kalbe Jawad. ITO Bridge also known as lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narain Setu was jammed leading to cascading effect on Vikas Marg and Outer Ring Road.
Traffic came to a grinding halt with Traffic Police stopping vehicular movement on Tilak Marg. The situation was saved with Delhi Police officials relenting to the demand of Shias to proceed to 11 Murti to protest.
Traffic coming from Jai Prakash Narayan Setu was not allowed towards ‘A’ point of ITO and Tilak Marg was out of bounds. The police officials had blocked all entries to the New Delhi district as they feared that protesters might indulge in violence.
Starting from NH-24, traffic was thrown out of gear at Nirman Vihar, Preet Vihar, Shakarpur, Akshardham, Yamuna Bridge and Vikas Marg. Traffic snarl was witnessed for over five hours as all arterial roads to the New Delhi district were closed.
Feroz Shah Road was barricaded and closed for commuters, adding to the problem as commuters who wished to reach ITO had to wait for over an hour or so. Copernicus Marg and Bhagwan Das Road were also closed for commuters and vehicular traffic for a while until protesters were allowed to move on towards Feroz Shah Road. The protesters decided to disperse after Kalbe Jawad called off the protest.
After the release, Kalbe Jawad held a Press conference outside the police station on Wednesday afternoon appealing to the Muslim community and other secular bodies to boycott the Congress in the upcoming lok Sabha elections.
After the protest was called, it took over one hour for the situation to return to normalcy.
Tension was brewing in East district since Tuesday midnight following the detention of Kalbe Jawad Naqvi at Mandawali police station. Over 300 protesters, who had reached outside the police station, were detained by the police.
Yahya Bukhari, the younger brother of Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, and sitting MP from East Delhi Sandeep Dikshit had also reached the police station late on Tuesday night to meet the protesters.