New Delhi: The Shaheen Bagh protesters told the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors that if the road parallel to the anti-CAA protest site was opened, the apex court should pass an order ensuring their security.
The interlocutors -- senior advocates Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran -- began the third day of their discussion with the protesters on Friday evening.
They inspected the roads and observed that they were barricaded by the police for "no apparent reason" and emphasised that the action of re-barricading the roads "defeats the very purpose of confidence-building on the part of the police".
Restrictions on the Kalindi Kunj road between Noida and Delhi continued on Friday after it was briefly opened by the Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday night, officials said.
The Delhi Police admitted that the protesters had not blocked the parallel road, but they had barricaded it to provide security to the protest site. The road, which connects Noida to south east Delhi and further to Faridabad in Haryana, was closed for traffic in the wake of the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest at Shaheen Bagh since December 15.
Watch: Shaheen Bagh protesters offer Namaz at the protest site
Only emergency vehicles like ambulances and school buses are being allowed to pass through the stretch, the police said.
"When several adjoining roads are open, why are they insisting us to move from this road? This is not the only road connecting Delhi to Noida," a woman protester told the interlocutors.
Another woman protester said, "We want in writing that if there is a single incident of attack or firing, the police officials, from the SHO to the police commissioner, should be shunted out. Home Minister Amit Shah has said the NRC is not coming soon, so ask him to issue a circular, saying they are not bringing the NRC now. We want the Supreme Court to pass an order on our security if the road adjoining the protest site is opened."
"Opening of one side of the road which was not originally blocked by the protesters was discussed as a first step. The protesters clarified again that the blockade on the non-protest side had originally been imposed by the Delhi Police and not them. However, later the protesters felt that the closed non-protest part of the road would ensure their security especially in the light of some incidents of attempted firing upon them earlier," Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde said.
Hegde said the protesters, in principle, were not fundamentally against opening of the non-protest side of the road if their security could be guaranteed in writing by the Delhi Police under suitable orders of the apex court.
The protesters have been given a day to reach an independent conclusion. The interlocutors will return on Sunday to discuss the way forward.
(With inputs from PTI)
