Thousands of protesters gathered unexpectedly at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on Monday, overwhelming police and security forces despite strict measures and an internet shutdown. The demonstrators, mostly students and young people, broke through multiple barricades and advanced toward India’s Parliament, prompting police to fire tear gas and use batons to disperse the crowd. The situation unfolded just as the Indian Parliament’s monsoon session began.

According to a senior government official cited in The Hindu, around 3,000 security personnel had been deployed, but they failed to contain the massive, leaderless crowd. Protesters filled all roads leading to Parliament, moving along Raisina Marg with little initial resistance from police. Authorities eventually blocked the route with buses about 100 meters from the Parliament complex.

The unprecedented breach near Parliament highlighted the scale and intensity of the unrest in the capital, raising questions about the effectiveness of existing security arrangements during major political sessions.