"Cockroach supporters" protest despite ban

 

TT 

 

Published 09:53

 

Supporters of India's "cockroach party" begin their march on India's parliament, despite a police ban. Photo: Manish Swarup/AP/TT

Supporters of the newly formed Indian Cockroach Janta Party – literally the party of the cockroach people – are marching in their thousands on the country's parliament in Delhi, despite the police denying them a demonstration permit.

According to several media outlets, the protests broke out after police forcibly took a hunger-striking activist with links to the party to hospital.

The protesters are demanding, among other things, that India's education minister resign, following suspected irregularities in medical school examinations.

The Cockroach Party was formed as a satirical movement after controversial statements by Indian judge Surya Kant. He is said to have at one point likened young unemployed people who have turned to activism to cockroaches. He later clarified that he did not mean all young unemployed Indians.