Team Anna supporters protest outside PM house, detained (Second Lead)
July 28th, 2012 - 11:03 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, July 28 (IANS) Around 100 Team Anna supporters, including eight women, took security personnel by surprise as they suddenly turned up to protest outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s official residence, 7 Race Course Road, Saturday. All have been detained, said police.
“We have detained around 100 protesters including eight women. The incident took place at around 6 p.m.,” said a police official.
Holding placards and banners against the government and the prime minister and shouting slogans, the crowd protested against the coal block allocation during the period Manmohan Singh held the coal portfolio. They also demanded a strong Jan Lokpal bill.
The protesters took the police by surprise by suddenly appearing in the high security area. They created a ruckus as they threw pamphlets in the air, while some of them climbed the outer gate and pelted pieces of coal inside but were swiftly pulled down by the security personnel.
Some of them lay in the middle of the road and blocked traffic for several minutes as police dragged them into waiting police vehicles.
“We have got some reports that some supporters have gone to 7, RCR to protest against Manmohan Singh’s involvement in coal block allocation,” a Team Anna member told IANS.
“According to our reports, the protesters carried pieces of coal with them, but we have received no reports of stone pelting,” the member said.
Team Anna has alleged that the prime minister was directly responsible for giving away coal blocks to unknown companies at throwaway prices between 2006 and 2009 when he headed the coal ministry.
Besides Manmohan Singh, Team Anna has charged 12 cabinet ministers including Home Minister P. Chidambaram, former finance minister (and now President) Pranab Mukherjee and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna of “massive” corruption and asked for an independent probe.
Team Anna had originally named 14 cabinet ministers but while Mukherjee was appointed the 13th President of India Wednesday, Virbhadra Singh resigned from Manmohan Singh’s cabinet last month in the wake of a Shimla court order in a 23-year-old corruption case.
According to a police official, the protesters were taken to a nearby police station and would be “released soon”.
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Tags: block allocation, cabinet ministers, external affairs minister, finance minister, home minister, independent probe, manmohan, manmohan singh, massive corruption, police official, police vehicles, pranab mukherjee, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, probe team, rcr, ruckus, security area, security personnel, throwaway prices