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India activist Anna Hazare to protest against crackdown | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Indian activist Anna Hazare plans to defy police and hold a protest against corruption in Delhi on Wednesday. | |
Mr Hazare says he will go without food during the one-day protest. Police have denied permission for the gathering. | |
Over the weekend they broke up another fast against corruption by yoga guru Baba Ramdev and thousands of his supporters, leading to a public outcry. | |
A hunger strike by Mr Hazare in April heaped pressure on the government, which is beset by corruption scandals. | |
Anna Hazare, 72, is part of a panel of campaigners now negotiating with the government for tough anti-corruption laws and he has huge public support. | |
Baba Ramdev, whose daily TV programme is watched by millions, has vowed to continue his fast against corruption in his home city of Haridwar. | |
He wants billions of dollars of suspected bribe money allegedly held overseas to be returned to India. The yoga guru has called the police operation a "blot on democracy and a conspiracy to kill me". | |
Around 30 people were injured when police used batons and tear gas to disperse thousands of Baba Ramdev's supporters in central Delhi on Sunday. | |
One woman is in a critical condition. | |
The government has been heavily criticised for the way the police dealt with the protest. | |
"India is a democratic country. Peacefully protesting and assembling without arms is legal," Arvind Kejriwal, a colleague of Mr Hazare, told a news conference. | |
"If the government obstructs us then we will resist and give ourselves up for arrest. The government's attitude is clearly that we have a right to indulge in corruption and if anyone protests then we will either crush them or... not allow them to assemble." | |
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the police operation against Baba Ramdev and his supporters had been "unfortunate" but there had been "no alternative". | |
The protests come as the Congress-led government is struggling with a massive corruption scandal surrounding the sale of mobile phone operating licences. | |
Auditors say spectrum was sold off on the cheap at an estimated cost to the exchequer of $40bn. | |
A former government minister and several others have been arrested and are being prosecuted - all deny the corruption charges against them. |