Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was booed by angry crowds at Jantar Mantar here Saturday when she went to the protest site
to pay her tribute to the gang-rape victim who died in a Singapore hospital.
Young men and women were furious when they saw Dikshit approach the gathering with her security personnel, and began shouting: "Sheila Dikshit wapas jao!" and "Sheila Dikshit go back!"
As she kept walking towards the site, the crowds became angrier and noisier. A shaken chief minister quickly lit a candle under a tree, bowed her head and quickly left.
All through her brief presence at the site, policemen jostled with the more militant ones in the crowd to keep them from reaching the chief minister.
The protesters kept screaming that they would not allow any politician to reach Jantar Mantar.
Jantar Mantar is one of two spots where Delhi Police have allowed people protesting the death of the rape victim to gather.
Ms Dikshit was the first representative of the government to attempt joining protestors in a show of solidarity.
This morning, she appealed to the Home Minister Shushil Kumar Shinde to allow a rally on Sunday at India Gate. "Our hearts are burning with grief and shame," she said this morning about the student's death.
The government has been criticized for a welter of missteps as the country has channelled its anger and sorrow over the attack on the student into demonstrations demanding better policing, stricter anti-rape laws, and fast-track trials for sexual assault crimes.
Protesters later said they objected to her presence because they did not want today's demonstration to be politicised. Today's demonstration has been peaceful but determined, sombre members vowing that the student's sacrifice has reinforced their agenda for impelling change.
Around 500 hundred people have gathered at Jantar Mantar, the designated spot for demonstrations in Delhi. In the morning, the police sealed all access to India Gate which served last weekend as the epicentre of large protests that turned violent. Police in riot gear manned access routes to the monument.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit showed up this afternoon at the large protest in Delhi called in memory of the 23-year-old student who died in a Singapore hospital from the horrific injuries she incurred when she was gang-raped on a bus two weeks ago. However, as she lit a candle, the chief minister was surrounded by demonstrators and then taken away by her security.
Young men and women were furious when they saw Dikshit approach the gathering with her security personnel, and began shouting: "Sheila Dikshit wapas jao!" and "Sheila Dikshit go back!"
As she kept walking towards the site, the crowds became angrier and noisier. A shaken chief minister quickly lit a candle under a tree, bowed her head and quickly left.
All through her brief presence at the site, policemen jostled with the more militant ones in the crowd to keep them from reaching the chief minister.
The protesters kept screaming that they would not allow any politician to reach Jantar Mantar.
Jantar Mantar is one of two spots where Delhi Police have allowed people protesting the death of the rape victim to gather.
Ms Dikshit was the first representative of the government to attempt joining protestors in a show of solidarity.
This morning, she appealed to the Home Minister Shushil Kumar Shinde to allow a rally on Sunday at India Gate. "Our hearts are burning with grief and shame," she said this morning about the student's death.
The government has been criticized for a welter of missteps as the country has channelled its anger and sorrow over the attack on the student into demonstrations demanding better policing, stricter anti-rape laws, and fast-track trials for sexual assault crimes.
Protesters later said they objected to her presence because they did not want today's demonstration to be politicised. Today's demonstration has been peaceful but determined, sombre members vowing that the student's sacrifice has reinforced their agenda for impelling change.
Around 500 hundred people have gathered at Jantar Mantar, the designated spot for demonstrations in Delhi. In the morning, the police sealed all access to India Gate which served last weekend as the epicentre of large protests that turned violent. Police in riot gear manned access routes to the monument.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit showed up this afternoon at the large protest in Delhi called in memory of the 23-year-old student who died in a Singapore hospital from the horrific injuries she incurred when she was gang-raped on a bus two weeks ago. However, as she lit a candle, the chief minister was surrounded by demonstrators and then taken away by her security.
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