Students' Federation of India's 'Festival of Resistance' got in trouble with the police in Chennai after they gheraoed Shastri Bhavan, where a number of central government offices are located, in the Nungambakkam area of the city on the afternoon of November 15. SFI Tamil Nadu Vice President, Niruban Chakravarty, who was present on the ground, said, "There were nearly a hundred students and seventy of us were taken into custody. Nobody has been injured and neither was there any lathicharge. But there was a scuffle between police and the students for about five to ten minutes."
The Inspector from the F3 Nungambakkam Police Station, under which the area falls, confirmed to Edexlive that students have been detained. He added that the students will be released by the evening. SFI began its 'Festival of Resistance' in parts of the country on November 11 to protest against the Central government's National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET). Similar to students in Chennai, the SFI unit in Delhi gheraoed the Ministry of Education. However, reports of detention or clashes with law enforcement during the day have not surfaced from other places as of now.
The 'festival' is divided into two phases, while phase 1 — which will end on November 15 — is against NEET and NEP, phase 2 will begin on November 19 and end on November 26 and will be in solidarity with the ongoing farmer's protest against the centre's three farm laws.
