EDMC sanitation workers protest at Jantar Mantar, police use 'mild force' to disperse crowd

EDMC sanitation workers, who are on strike for the last three weeks, Monday staged a protest at the Jantar Mantar here, during which "mild force" was used by police personnel to disperse the crowd after it went out of control, police said.

A senior leader of the sanitation workers' union alleged that the police also resorted to "lathicharge" during the agitation, a charge denied by the police.

"The protesters, who were agitating at the Jantar Mantar, tried marching towards Ashoka Road and tried to break barricades, and also indulged in stone-pelting. Five police personnel were injured in stone-pelting," a senior police officer said.

President of MCD Swachhata Karmchari Union Sanjay Gahlot, however, countered the allegation, claiming that "some anti-social elements had joined the group of protesters and resorted to stone-pelting to malign us".

"The police resorted to lathicharge and some of the workers got injured in it," he alleged.

Denying the charges, the senior officer said, "Police personnel only used mild force to contain the protesters."