Scattered Protests in Delhi on Republic Day

Raveendran/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images Protesters who boycotted Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on Saturday.

Several groups of protesters marched and demonstrated in New Delhi on Saturday as India celebrated its 64th Republic Day, demanding better safety for women, a movement that started after the Dec. 16 gang rape of a young woman here.

A march of several hundred students, organized by the All India Students’ Association, sat on the street at Jantar Mantar, a designated protest area in central Delhi. The protesters carried the placards bearing slogans including, “No Violence Against Women,”l “Unknown Citizen,” and €œFreedom Without Fear.” They shouted slogans including, “We Want Justice” and “Rajpath is yours. Janpath is ours.” (Rajpath is the street where the official Republic Day parade passes and Janpath is where the protesters began their march.)

“We want to counter the notion that women are safe inside. We want women to be safe outside,” said Oshin Siao Bhatt, a student at Miranda House College of Delhi University who attended.

“In 2012 only one rapist was convicted in Delhi while about 600 rapes took place,” Shafaq Khan, a philosophy student at Jawaharlal Nehru University said. “We want to reclaim our republic.”

At another rally organized by the Progressive Democratic Student Union, protesters’ placards proclaimed: “Respect The Sex Which Gave You Birth” and  “Punish The Police, Sensitize Judiciary, Eradicate Rape.”

At a third, placards read, “We Want Safety, Not Compensation,” referring to the money given by government to the family of the rape! victim, and “We Want Justice Not Dates,” referring to the judicial delays.

At a fourth protest rally, an activist, Arvind Kejriwal, who has formed the Aam Admi, or Common Men, party to run for election, told a crowd that if the right people enter into politics, violence against women will decline. One small group of protesters had created a funeral pyre that they said represented the Delhi rape victim, and said they would not move themselves until the rapists were hanged.