Clash between police and Arvind Kejriwal’s supporters

New Delhi : After spending the night sleeping on a road in the heart  Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal woke up to rain and chilly winds this morning but vowed to escalate his sit-in protest against a police force that he describes as “compromised.”

Mr Kejriwal, 45, warned, “I said 10 days, but it was a way of saying that the protest is indefinite. If the central government does not agree to our demands by January 26, then we will fill Rajpath (the central boulevard in the heart of central Delhi) with lakhs of people.

This morning, Chief Minister refused the Delhi Police’s advice to shift his protest to another site, Jantar Mantar. “Who is the chief minister? Sushil Kumar Shinde or I? The chief minister  decides where to sit, not the home minister,” he told reporters.

Mr Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party want the control of the Delhi police to be transferred from the union home ministry to the Delhi government, a demand made by earlier chief ministers as well. He is also insistent that five policemen must be suspended immediately for failing to make arrests based on the orders of his minister.

“We will continue our protest. How can Home Minister (Sushil Kumar) Shinde sleep when so many crimes are happening in Delhi? When women are unsafe in the city? We won’t negotiate,” Mr Kejriwal told reporters, making it clear that he will not re-locate his protest to Jantar Mantar, the designated spot for public protests in Delhi.

Police have barricaded off the area around the protest site, meaning the thousands of supporters that AAP is trying to mobilise in support of the protest will face difficulties reaching him .