Advocates Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran spoke to anti-Citizenship Act protestors in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh locality for the third straight day on Friday. Protestors at the site asked the two Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors why they were being asked to vacate the area when there were other roads too connecting Delhi and Noida, PTI reported.

The protest, which is going on since December 15 and is led by women and children, has been challenged in the Supreme Court by petitioners claiming that the demonstrators have blocked traffic. Protestors claim it is the Delhi Police who has blocked some roads. On Monday, the Supreme Court appointed Hegde and Ramachandran as mediators to convince the protestors to move their demonstration elsewhere.

The two advocates had checked all the roads connecting Delhi to Noida late on Thursday. Ramachandran told the protestors on Friday: “When we checked the roads, we noticed that you were right. Many roads are open, which were blocked by the police. I am very upset to say that the Noida-Faridabad road, which was opened on Friday, was again closed by the police. Whoever has done this is now answerable to the Supreme Court.”

A woman at the site told the interlocutors: “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.”

The protestors told the two advocates that the police had barricaded the road parallel to their tent. The advocates called the police to the spot to discuss the matter. A police official told them that the parallel road as well as some other roads were kept barricaded to give protection to the protest site.

A protestor said: “We want in writing that if there is a single incident of attack or firing, the police officials, from the SHO [station house officer] to the police commissioner, should be shunted out. Home Minister Amit Shah has said the NRC [National Register of Citizens] 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.”

Also read: Why have Delhi and UP police blocked alternative routes around Shaheen Bagh?