New Delhi: On the second day of protests, Sikh groups shouted slogans outside Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s residence and the Congress office on Thursday, over the acquittal of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
Burning effigies of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Sajjan Kumar, different Sikh groups gathered outside Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence.
“Over a thousand protesters marched towards Sonia Gandhi’s residence, breaking two barricades. But they were blocked by the policemen. Similar scenes were witnessed at 24 Akbar Road (the Congress office),” a senior police officer said.
A traffic police officer told IANS that several roads in central Delhi had been blocked to prevent angry protesters from reaching the Congress office and the residence of Sonia Gandhi. Among the roads closed to traffic and pedestrians were Akbar Road, Motilal Nehru Marg, Krishna Menon Marg, Mansingh Road, Maulana Azad Road and Janpath.
Police barricades, however, failed to deter protesters who stood as close as they could to the places they wished to reach, shouting slogans.
On Wednesday, protesters had blocked busy roads in the national capital. Metro services were also disrupted by the protests for a few hours.
The Sikh groups are angry at the acquittal of Sajjan Kumar by a city court Tuesday in a case related to the killing of five people in the Delhi Cantonment area during violence against Sikhs following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi Oct 31, 1984.
Sajjan Kumar’s acquittal comes almost three decades after an estimated 3,000 Sikhs were killed in three days of riots in Delhi and elsewhere. (IANS)