adrenaline in Delhi
This is the account I wrote of the other day, right after the surprise arrests, but never got a chance to post up here. Same story, but from a personal perspective as one of the foreigners:
*****************
This morning M and I set up a little ad hoc photo and blog upload
office in a barebones hotel room in the middle of downtown Delhi a few blocks away from the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the
government division responsible for the needs of gas and contamination affected Bhopalis and the building before which the Bhopalis are sitting in protest. It is costing Rs. 485, or about $11. It's got an electrical outlet, and that's really all we need.
We had been photographing the Bhopalis in the morning and headed back to our room just after noon to download photos and burn a cd. The cops had promised not to use any force against the group until after 4:30 -- everyone could sit there until then, they said, but then they would remove everybody.
When we got back to where the group was at about 3:30. We had the
autorickshaw driver drop us off about 100 meters away to approach
cautiously. We had been warned by Sathyu that the cops might try to
take our passports away and use them as leverage against the rest of
the group. Or that they could just beat us or something likewise less creative. So we started down the street, then from across the street.
We stood incredulous at the sheer show of force from the cops. Only
in NYC had I seen such massive overkill. Several buses and about 6
trucks filled with riot cops surrounded the spot where the Bhopalis
were sitting. Hundreds of police. So many police we could barely see our group, and neither, of course, could anyone in the crowd that had gathered to watch from across the street. Only the signs and banners were visible above the minor sea of police helmets.
The group was surrounded by yellow rope and a few large metal
cage-type things. Very similar to what the NYPD does -- create a
protest-in-a-box, a McProtest. The show of numbers and force wouldn't be surprising at all in New York, but it is absolutely shocking in India, where you hardly ever see any cops anywhere, and the ones you do see do absolutely nothing as far as I can tell. It's the most copless and lawless place I've ever been, certainly. Delhi, of course, is a little more skittish, just as NYC is compared to Kentucky, but still. It was surprising.
Suddenly there were very few people left who were not arrested. I
found myself in the middle of the wide boulevard, crossing to the
other side, when Y approached me and told me to get out of the area as fast as I could. She was addressing M, too, who was by then near enough to hear. "Go in separate directions," N said, telling us they would try to get us alone on some other street and confiscate our footage. M headed toward the nearest intersection, one of Delhi's huge traffic circles. I started down in the opposite direction before realizing I would be walking a straight line down an open boulevard for a few hundred meters. Turned back around. Decided to hop inside an autorickshaw and pay double to get out quick. Strangely, though, all the autorickshaws on the street were suddenly out of commission. The first one just shook his head. I hopped inside a second one. "****** Place". "Where?" "Anywhere, just go, straight ahead." He didn't move. "Rashtriya..." he said. Something about the government. By this time we literally couldn't move because his vehicle was in the middle of a group of several hundred khaki-clad cops all crossing the boulevard at the same time. I sat up straight, pushing my head up and back into the shelter of the autorickshaw.
S must have seen me get in because he suddenly stuck his head in
and asked where I was going. "I'm trying to tell this guy I don't
care where we go, just get out of here NOW" "Doesn't matter," he
said, "you better just get out and run for it, however you can" Without a word I grabbed the laptop and my other bag and darted out. Didn't look back. Shot through the parking lot. Saw X, another foreigner, and turned. Crossed a small street and then a big one, made my way to another traffic circle, where at the perfect moment an empty autorickshaw passed by and saw me, pulling over. I hopped in, foregoing my usual fight over the price. ***** Place. He drove fast and after a block I knew I'd be all right. A minute later I was back 'home'. I gave him 30 rupees, went inside. M showed only minutes later.
We got up to the room and within 30 seconds had created an octopus of
cords between the one wall socket, a splitter, the computers, and
cameras. Apparently, right after telling us to slip away, Y was
caught and taken away. They wanted to know where we Westerners were. She didn't know, of course.
*****************
This morning M and I set up a little ad hoc photo and blog upload
office in a barebones hotel room in the middle of downtown Delhi a few blocks away from the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, the
government division responsible for the needs of gas and contamination affected Bhopalis and the building before which the Bhopalis are sitting in protest. It is costing Rs. 485, or about $11. It's got an electrical outlet, and that's really all we need.
We had been photographing the Bhopalis in the morning and headed back to our room just after noon to download photos and burn a cd. The cops had promised not to use any force against the group until after 4:30 -- everyone could sit there until then, they said, but then they would remove everybody.
When we got back to where the group was at about 3:30. We had the
autorickshaw driver drop us off about 100 meters away to approach
cautiously. We had been warned by Sathyu that the cops might try to
take our passports away and use them as leverage against the rest of
the group. Or that they could just beat us or something likewise less creative. So we started down the street, then from across the street.
We stood incredulous at the sheer show of force from the cops. Only
in NYC had I seen such massive overkill. Several buses and about 6
trucks filled with riot cops surrounded the spot where the Bhopalis
were sitting. Hundreds of police. So many police we could barely see our group, and neither, of course, could anyone in the crowd that had gathered to watch from across the street. Only the signs and banners were visible above the minor sea of police helmets.
The group was surrounded by yellow rope and a few large metal
cage-type things. Very similar to what the NYPD does -- create a
protest-in-a-box, a McProtest. The show of numbers and force wouldn't be surprising at all in New York, but it is absolutely shocking in India, where you hardly ever see any cops anywhere, and the ones you do see do absolutely nothing as far as I can tell. It's the most copless and lawless place I've ever been, certainly. Delhi, of course, is a little more skittish, just as NYC is compared to Kentucky, but still. It was surprising.
Suddenly there were very few people left who were not arrested. I
found myself in the middle of the wide boulevard, crossing to the
other side, when Y approached me and told me to get out of the area as fast as I could. She was addressing M, too, who was by then near enough to hear. "Go in separate directions," N said, telling us they would try to get us alone on some other street and confiscate our footage. M headed toward the nearest intersection, one of Delhi's huge traffic circles. I started down in the opposite direction before realizing I would be walking a straight line down an open boulevard for a few hundred meters. Turned back around. Decided to hop inside an autorickshaw and pay double to get out quick. Strangely, though, all the autorickshaws on the street were suddenly out of commission. The first one just shook his head. I hopped inside a second one. "****** Place". "Where?" "Anywhere, just go, straight ahead." He didn't move. "Rashtriya..." he said. Something about the government. By this time we literally couldn't move because his vehicle was in the middle of a group of several hundred khaki-clad cops all crossing the boulevard at the same time. I sat up straight, pushing my head up and back into the shelter of the autorickshaw.
S must have seen me get in because he suddenly stuck his head in
and asked where I was going. "I'm trying to tell this guy I don't
care where we go, just get out of here NOW" "Doesn't matter," he
said, "you better just get out and run for it, however you can" Without a word I grabbed the laptop and my other bag and darted out. Didn't look back. Shot through the parking lot. Saw X, another foreigner, and turned. Crossed a small street and then a big one, made my way to another traffic circle, where at the perfect moment an empty autorickshaw passed by and saw me, pulling over. I hopped in, foregoing my usual fight over the price. ***** Place. He drove fast and after a block I knew I'd be all right. A minute later I was back 'home'. I gave him 30 rupees, went inside. M showed only minutes later.
We got up to the room and within 30 seconds had created an octopus of
cords between the one wall socket, a splitter, the computers, and
cameras. Apparently, right after telling us to slip away, Y was
caught and taken away. They wanted to know where we Westerners were. She didn't know, of course.
posted by Michael M. at 5:47 AM
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