Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde on Tuesday said schools in South Mumbai area will remain closed on Wednesday on account of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, ANI reported. Schools in suburban Mumbai will, however, remain open.

At least five lakh people are expected to participate in the silent march to protest against the gangrape and murder of a 15-year-old in Koparde in 2016. The dabbawalas, who run a tiffin service in the city, will not work on Wednesday to take part in the rally, according to ANI. “We are expecting large numbers of people from the Maratha community from all over the state,” Bhavya Patil, the social media convener of the Maratha Kranti Morcha, told DNA. “It will be a historic, silent march and surely break all rally records.”

The protestors have been demanding death penalty for the accused. Besides, they also want amendments in the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, quotas for Marathis in government jobs and educational institutes and minimum support price for farmers, among other things.

The rally will start from Byculla zoo at 11 am and will culminate at Azad Maidan at 5 pm. The Mumbai Police has deployed more than 7,000 personnel in the city to tackle the traffic situation, reported The Times of India. “People should not step out of their houses unless it is urgent as traffic might be affected due to the silent morcha,” Pune District Convenor of the rally Raghunath Chitra-Patil told the daily.