Mumbai protests against alleged JNU mob attack called off after protesters forced out

The protest near Gateway of India to show solidarity to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students was called off on Tuesday after hundreds of protestors who had gathered at the Gateway on Sunday night, were forced out by the police this morning and moved to Azad Maidan.

Kapil Agarwal, a student of TISS, stated that the protest was successful as "people have responded". He added that while they would leave Azad Maidan, the protest would continue.

We were forcibly shifted here to Azad Maidan by police. But now we have called off our Occupy Gateway protest. It was a successful protest. Our resistance will continue. We have a long line up of programmes," Agarwal told NDTV.

Earlier this morning, protestors were allegedly dragged away physically from the popular tourist site, which till that time had been the epicentre of "Occupy Gateway" protest. The police stated that some moved voluntarily, but others had to be dragged away from the site after they refused to comply.

According to the officials, the protestors were dragged away as there were no toilet or water facilities at the Gateway of India and it was turning into a challenge to control the crowd at Gateway of India, which is one of the busiest sites in Mumbai.

The police claimed the protestors that refused to comply and they were shifted to Azad Maidan to avoid traffic issues near the Gateway. The police also took to Twitter to request people to protest at Azad Maidan as it is the designated place for such purposes,

Dear Mumbaikars,
Azad Maidan is the designated place for all agitations in South Mumbai as per Hon. HC instructions. However, some agitators gathered at an important South Mumbai location for a long duration without any permission.
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— Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) January 7, 2020

In the meantime, while talking to media, Aditya Thackeray spoke about the controversy regarding the 'Free Kashmir' placard. He said that it is necessary to understand the context behind the message. He added that according to him, the meaning behind Free Kashmir was to bring normalcy in Kashmir and free the ban on internet and other services.