Supporters of India’s youth-led “Cockroach” movement gather in New Delhi and attempt to march to parliament, but clashes occur with police as authorities deny permission for the protest. Multiple outlets report that police use force against demonstrators during the attempt to reach parliament, including caning and, in some accounts, tear gas. Reported demands include calls for the resignation of India’s education minister. Several articles describe the movement as drawing thousands of supporters, framing it as a response to frustrations among young Indians, including high youth unemployment and concerns over exam paper leaks. One outlet also links the movement’s emergence to a Supreme Court chief justice’s earlier remarks, in an unrelated hearing, in which some unemployed young people were compared to “cockroaches.”
While details differ on the specific methods used by police, the accounts broadly agree on the central sequence: an attempted march toward parliament, police refusal of permission, and subsequent clashes as protesters press their demands.
