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Protesters clash with police in Indian capital over brutal gang-rape (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Published time: December 22, 2012 13:42
Edited time: January 07, 2013 12:42
Demonstrators shout slogans as police use water cannons to disperse them near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)
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Indian police fired tear gas, batons and water cannons against protesters in the capital New Delhi as thousands demanded the death penalty for five men who raped a 23-year-old student. Some of the demonstrators sustained injuries.

­Crowds of protesters attempted to make their way to the presidential mansion at Raisina Hill and then tried to break through steel barricades surrounding a high-security zone where the presidential mansion, the prime minister’s office and various ministries are located.

The protesters carried banners that read 'Save women, save India' and 'Hang the rapists.' Police cracked down on the rally after some demonstrators began to throw stones at security forces.

Television footage aired by a local TV station showed protesters chanting "We want justice" as police struggled to control the crowd, who smashed flower pots and street decorations.

Police use water cannons to disperse demonstrators near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)
Police use water cannons to disperse demonstrators near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)

The clashes come after days of protests sparked by a brutal attack on a young student. Protesters are demanding the death penalty for the five suspects, who were detained following the December 16 attack. The sixth assailant apprehended on Friday.

The group of men, who were drunk at the time, attacked the woman and her 28-year-old friend while on a charter bus that drove through the city for hours, even passing through police checkpoints. The assailants were armed with iron rods, and gang-raped the victim and brutally beat her and her friend. They were both then dumped on the side of the road on at high speed.

A policeman wields his baton against a demonstrator near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)
A policeman wields his baton against a demonstrator near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)

Doctors at the hospital where the victim was taken said she remains in critical but stable condition, and has been removed from her ventilator.

The violence prompted activists to demand that the government tougher measures to protect women from the daily threat of harassment and violence. General Vijay Kumar Singh, a retired Indian army chief, called for the training and arming of security forces to deal with the issue.

Police use water cannons to disperse demonstrators near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)
Police use water cannons to disperse demonstrators near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)

On Friday, Indian officials announced a broad campaign aimed at protecting the rights of women in New Delhi. The government also said it would demand life sentences for the woman's six attackers and pay the victims medical bills, and promised stricter policing to prevent future such incidents.

undreds of students and activists blockaded roads in New Delhi on Friday and marched to the president's palace, breaking through police barricades. 

Authorities have called on activists to protest peacefully and to refrain from vandalizing government property. "The government is trying to do whatever it can to take measures and make sure that women are safe in the country," junior home minister R.P.N. Singh was quoted by India's CNN-IBN as saying.

Demonstrators shout slogans near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)
Demonstrators shout slogans near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)

New Delhi, with a population of nearly 17 million people, has the highest number of reported sex crimes of all India's cities. The number of reported rape cases in the capital has risen 17 percent from 2011, to 661 this year, government figures revealed. According to police statistics, a rape is reported on average every 18 hours, and a sexual assault occurs every 14 hours in the capital.

Police unleash water cannon towards demonstrators during a protest calling for better safety for women following the rape of a student last week, in front of the Government Secretariat and Presidential Palace in New Delhi on December 22, 2012 (AFP Photo / Raveendran)
Police unleash water cannon towards demonstrators during a protest calling for better safety for women following the rape of a student last week, in front of the Government Secretariat and Presidential Palace in New Delhi on December 22, 2012 (AFP Photo / Raveendran)
A policeman wields his baton against a demonstrator near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)
A policeman wields his baton against a demonstrator near the presidential palace during a protest rally in New Delhi December 22, 2012 (Reuters / Adnan Abidi)
Demonstrators react as police unleash water cannon during a protest calling for better safety for women following the rape of a student last week, in front of the Government Secretariat and Presidential Palace in New Delhi on December 22, 2012 (AFP Photo / Raveendran)
Demonstrators react as police unleash water cannon during a protest calling for better safety for women following the rape of a student last week, in front of the Government Secretariat and Presidential Palace in New Delhi on December 22, 2012 (AFP Photo / Raveendran)

Comments (11)

you're out 12.01.2013 00:22

Hey Stock, don't blame the common Americans, we also don't have control over our fked up gov't. Our gov't is controlled by the jewishlobbyists working for the benefit of Isitreal; technically, these Congressmen being bought by fake money god loving scums committed treason by selling out the interests and safety of the US to benefit another country. The common Americans support your position. Our gov't, like all forms of gov't in brain dead countries, suppresses us too. You guys are doing the right thing, protest, pressure, and shame. Shame them out of office. Shame is more power than bullets. We support your cause. The key to successful evolution of people lies with educating the people. When they start dumbing down or never bring up people's intelligence, the people become emotional beings, acting with primitive thoughts easy to manipulated and control. There are reasons to keep people simple and dumb. In all countries where the population is not educated, there is no stability. You can hang the five; it not preventive. Prevention is through learning. It would be more effective if you teach the men to smarter and ship them all over India to talk about their mistakes, how their lives have changed, how the victims family changes, the harm they've cause, and their ruin life. Great if they cry and let the audience yell at them until all the sickness of stupid is cried out of them. Death penal for this case, in that environment wouldn’t do much and definitely not stop the next attack.

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stock (unregistered) 23.12.2012 00:18

putin wins by 64% of votes against  nearest oppositon's 10 % while manmohan singh has never won a single elction in life but was installed as prime minister of India  becaus he is an american  and british spy.-still none of so called free western media has ever been  critical of this unelelcted traitor manmonam singh
people are opposed to that sikh traitor who is very unpopular but is supported by american spy agencies inside India.
so you never hear  of any criticism of that unelelcted manmoahns ingh who pimps for american companies inside India against  oppostion fromt he masses and he brought  Enron and Monsanto  to india with farmers commiting sucide there from that action.
you never hear of oppsotion to manmoahn singh in western media ! because he is angloamerican spy.
http://www.c hauthiduniya.com/201 1/07/cash-for-vote.h tml/comment-page-1#c omment-2880

h ow the traitor manmoahn singh bribed the MPs to get votes for nuclear deal with help of american and indian industrailists's money. Amar singh was just  a middle man. this manmohan singh was alos involved in bribing  the Mps in narsingha rao misntry in 1993 when they were in minority to rescue the fall of that government. He also spied on indian decision on test nuclear bomb in 1994 and duly informed his American masters about it so that American pressurised narshina rao to abandon nuclear test-such a traitor is this unelected prime minister !
"
When Narashimha Rao was PM he had planned to carry out the Nuclear tests back in 1991, however a mole in his office(manmohan singh) informed the CIA and the US administration was able to exert enough pressure on Rao which discouraged him from carrying out the tests


-THIS FELLOW MANMOHAN SINGH GADDAR IS SUCH A TRAITOR THAT HE BE CAUGHT AND THEN TORTURTED IN PUBLIC TILL HANGED.
========= ==================== ===============

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stock (unregistered) 23.12.2012 00:16

The government of American stooge manmoahn singh  often complains that there isn't enough money to feed all the poor, yet will extends corporate tax concessions worth billions of rupees. It talks about having to stop food wastage in order to be able to address hunger, when it allows millions of tons of food grains to rot in warehouses or be eaten by rats. If there is a shortage of food grains, it should halt their export for use as cattlefeed in Europe. Besides, why were farmers pushed from growing grains to cash crops?


Th e government's attitude to hunger, starvation and famine is to simply deny it.

In Maharashtra, for instance, it sought to end hunger altogether "without adding a morsel to anyone's diet. It simply passed an Act that deletes the word "famine" from all legislation in the state. By defining "a problem out of existence ... a government kills its own responsibility towards citizens, mainly poor and hungry ones, in times of crisis," Sainath argues.

Some years ago, it emerged that poverty stricken tribals in Rajasthan had taken to eating wild grass to fend off hunger but died since the grass was hard to digest.
========= ==================== ==================== ==================== =
“The reality? The daily per capita net availability of foodgrain has been falling steadily and dangerously during the years of “economic reform” in India. If we take five-year averages for those years from 1992 to 2010 — the figure declined every five years without exception From 474.9 grams of cereals and pulses for the years of 1992-96 to 440.4 grams for the period 2007-2010 (The 2011 figure is yet to come). A fall of 7.3 per cent. There has not been a single five-year period that saw an upward blip.


+1

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