Delhi protests turn violent as thousands march on Parliament

Delhi Police said 118 of its personnel were injured after thousands of Cockroach Janta Party supporters pushed toward Parliament Street in New Delhi as the group’s “Chalo Sansad” march reached the capital’s security cordon. At least 60 protesters were wounded, and police said at least 70 people were detained after officers used tear gas, batons and lathi charges to stop the crowd.

The confrontation fell on the first day of Parliament’s monsoon session, turning an already tense security day into a street battle outside the national legislature. More than 10,000 people joined the march, and the scale of the turnout showed how a movement that began as online satire had moved far beyond internet ridicule. The Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, has become a youth-led protest force demanding sweeping education reform, action on alleged exam paper leaks, especially the NEET medical entrance test scandal, and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Abhijeet Dipke, the movement’s founder, has emerged as one of its most visible figures. The campaign has also drawn attention from Sonam Wangchuk, adding a well-known education and climate activist to a protest line that has increasingly mixed student anger with political symbolism.

Delhi Police described the demonstrators as unruly and violent, while Amnesty International said the crackdown on peaceful protesters in New Delhi raised serious human rights concerns. The tension has not been confined to one afternoon on Parliament Street. The unrest had been building since May 2026, and earlier demonstrations in June helped move the CJP from memes and satire into a street presence that could fill major protest sites.

The group said it would not march again because police would “hurt youth,” a sign that the crackdown may harden support rather than disperse it. The following day, the protest continued, underscoring that the arrests and injuries had not contained the movement. Jantar Mantar, Delhi’s best-known protest site, has become part of that escalation as a fringe online joke has turned into one of the clearest challenges yet to how far the Indian state will tolerate disruptive, unconventional protest.