Delhi Police faces virtual revolt, cops take to streets against attack on colleagues

Delhi Police was facing a virtual revolt from its rank and file on Tuesday as thousands of personnel laid siege outside the Police Headquarters, rejecting their chief's pleas to go back to work.

The unprecedented protests were triggered by two attacks on their colleagues, one on Monday and another on Saturday after a parking dispute between an on-duty policeman and a lawyer which led to at least 20 security personnel and several advocates being injured.

Two FIRs were registered against a lawyer, who was seen in a video hitting a uniformed policeman on a motorcycle with his elbow and slapping him outside the Saket District Court.

Shouting slogans like "We Want Justice" and "Go Back, Go Back" as their senior officers appealed for calm, the surging crowd of protesters, some in uniform and some in civvies, gathered outside the Police Headquarters in ITO in the morning itself and were unrelenting in their demand as the hours passed.

By evening, many of their family members started moving ..