Indian Olympic wrestlers arrested as recent protests escalate

Indian police have detained two Olympic wrestlers during a recent protest over the alleged sexual assault of female athletes.

Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik were among those who attempted to march into the new Delhi parliament on Sunday.

Footage showed demonstrators climbing barriers and being taken away by the authorities.

Two-time world championship medalist Finch Phogat and her sister Sangeeta were among the country’s top wrestlers arrested.

“This is wrong,” Malik told reporters after authorities put her on a bus.

“We were walking quietly, and they dragged us by force and held us and didn’t even tell us where we were going.”

“Our people are not allowed to march,” Mr. Fogat said, adding that the protesters “asked with folded hands” that the police let them go and that they go in peace.

Most of the opposition parties boycotted the ceremony after they criticized the government for not asking President Draupadi Mormo, the head of state, to inaugurate it.

The police claimed that the protesting wrestlers did not follow their directions and that they arrested those who tried to break the barricades.

“They have broken the law,” Delhi’s Special Commissioner of Police, Dipendra Pathak, told local media.

“In terms of further action, we will ascertain which rules have been breached and then take action through due process.”

The police also removed tents and other items from the site where protesters had camped for weeks.

A number of opposition politicians criticized their handling of the march.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of the All India Trinamool Congress party tweeted, “I strongly condemn the way Delhi Police has dealt with Sakshi Malik, Vinch Phogat and other wrestlers.”

“It’s a shame that our heroes are treated in this way.”

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is from the Aam Aadmi Party, called the police behavior “extremely wrong and reprehensible”.

Ms. Malik – the first Indian woman to win an Olympic wrestling medal in 2016 – later tweeted that once she and her fellow protesters were released they would start “satyagraha”, a form of non-violent resistance, again.

Protesters accuse wrestling officials of sexually harassing women in the sport. This includes its chairman, Brij Bhushan Singh, who denies the allegations.

Their protests began in January but were called off the same month after the Sports Ministry stripped Mr Singh of his administrative powers and the government promised to investigate their grievances.

The Indian Olympic Association set up a committee to investigate the allegations against Singh, which submitted its report weeks ago. The committee’s findings have not been disclosed yet.

Police in Delhi were also on guard on Sunday when a group of farmers tried to enter the city to support wrestlers. That was after dozens of farmers broke police barricades in Delhi to join another protest earlier this month.