17 Oct - How the Protest Went- Jantar Mantar is Everywhere Campaign

How the day went: 

• We started the day with a quick welcome statement, and gave some security instructions. We are an inclusive space so wanted to make sure that everyone knew that- we asked them to record and stand up for each other if an incident occurs. 
• The statement that was made collectively as a group on the WhatsApp Group chat was read, then the itinerary of the day was shared.
• Slogans were chanted, a makeshift drum out of a celebrations box was drummed!
• • “VOTE CHOR — GADDI CHHOR”
  • "JANTAR MANTAR — EVERYWHERE!"
  • “ONE TWO THREE FOUR — GYANESH KUMAR VOTE CHOR”
  • "SAVE THE CONSTITUTION — SAVE DEMOCRACY!"
  • “RESTORE  — THE ROLLS
  • PROTECT — THE VOTE
  • DEFEND — INDIAN DEMOCRACY”
• We unfurled our tricolour proudly and spoke about the detention of Neha Bora, Abhikij Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka.
• The floor was opened to all for art, poetry and music. Curious onlookers admired our posters and we shared copies of our statement to them. The floor was opened by a beautiful song sung by a protester, followed by poems by multiple protesters.
• We spoke about institutional violence against journalists and activists and how our right to peaceful dissent is being stripped away from us
• A moment of silence was shared for Sahil Wakode, Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam and all political prisoners.
• Further chants were cried, we did a quick poll for upcoming protests and conducted interviews with some of the protesters.
• 2 suspicious men (Indian background) came up to us asking about our background and whereabouts, before becoming aggressive against us while abusing youth leaders in India. We boo-ed them and the Garda (Irish police force) were called who arrived on site immediately (kudos to their response!), the men got scared and started walking away but Garda caught up to them and gave them a warning not to return. We cheered for Garda; who encouraged us to keep doing what we’re doing, we wrapped up shortly after.