Indian student protests persist

Students rejected police demand to evacuate from the India Gate in central Delhi where they have been staging protests for days demanding justice for a 23-year medical student, who was repeatedly raped and brutalised by six men on a moving public bus last Sunday in southern Delhi, which has rocked the nation over the past few days.

Angry students vandalised buses, which were waiting for them to leave the site, which saw a huge rally by students and clashes between them and police, who used tear gas and water canons to dispel them as they neared the presidential palace.
Gandhi promised to support the students’ demand after some waited outside her residence throughout a chilly night.

She said the Congress-led government is “serious” about the case.
However, the anger of the students seemed not alleviated by the promise, as they vowed to stage another huge protest yesterday.
Some opposition figures and social activists said they would join the students. Thousands of young men and women on Saturday laid siege around Raisina Hill, the

symbol of power of India where the presidential palace and some major ministerial offices are located.

Meanwhile, police have collected testimony from the victim of the gang-rape who is fighting for her life in a Delhi public hospital.
She said the six men cold-bloodedly planned the gang-rape as she and her boyfriend boarded their bus.
They were both brutalised for half an hour on the moving bus before being stripped and thrown off the bus.

Meanwhile, police shot dead a television journalist yesterday when they opened fire during protest against a sexual assault on a film actress in India’s northeast, an official said.

The 36-year-old, who was working for the Doordarshan network, was “killed in police firing” in Imphal, capital of Manipur state, police spokesperson A Singh said.
The shooting comes amid a wave of protests in India over a student’s gang-rape in New Delhi last weekend.

Manipur has been rocked by its own series of protests after the actress known as Momoko was dragged from stage in full public view last week by an armed militant belonging to a banned rebel outfit despite the presence of security personnel.
He then tried to rape her, but she managed to fight him off and flee. — Xinhua/AFP.