Street protests: Numerous arrests during protests in New Delhi

New Delhi. According to media reports, the police have arrested thousands of people in new street protests by the “Cockroach” youth movement in India against a controversial review of voter rolls.

Scores of protest participants were picked up and taken away from the main rally site in central New Delhi and elsewhere in the capital, The Hindu newspaper and other local media reported.

To prevent the protests, which were banned by the police, the authorities mobilized thousands of security forces, erected road barriers, imposed temporary internet blocks and closed subway stations.

Even before the announced protests began, its founder Abhijeet Dipke and other representatives were arrested when landing at the international airport in New Delhi, said the “Cockroach People’s Party” (CJP).

“Come and arrest us, we are not afraid,” Dipke said to policewomen on a plane that had come from Mumbai, according to broadcaster NDTV.

A key demand of the movement is the resignation of the top chief of the Election Commission, Gyanesh Kumar. The independent commission is responsible for the recent nationwide overhaul of electoral rolls, which is said to have removed 130 million names.

Critics accuse the election commission of making the changes to favor the Hindu nationalist ruling party, the BJP. The commission and the BJP reject the allegations.

The CJP was formed in May after a top judge in the country called unemployed young people “cockroaches.” The CJP describes itself as a “satirical political movement.”

It organizes itself primarily on the Internet; there is no party headquarters. According to observers, the protest movement developed into a major challenge for the government and the BJP.

It became known through weeks of protests in the summer against abuses in the education system and the examination system in higher education. After the protests, the then education minister resigned.