Major Protest Sites of the World- A Series (Part-I)

New Delhi: Whenever, citizens of any country becomes unhappy with any factor they protest and agitate against it. One person or a group starts the protest and then more people joins.In every country there is a famous structure or a place where agitators or protesters gather and remain there untill their demands be met. So, here we come with a Series on some Major Protest sites of the World.Lets start with Jantar Mantar of India. Built by Maharaj Jai Singh II of Jaipur in 1724 as a result of the task of revising calendar and astronomical tables given by Mughal Emperor Muhammed Shah. It is situated in centre of Delhi.Jantar Mantar was built for Astronomical purpose. It was used as an observatory to anthologize astronomical tables and to forecast the movements and times of Sun, Moon and Planets. The monument started eradicating by 1867 but it was renovated again to give back the glory to the Astronomical Monument. In current time, Jantar Mantar is seen as a protest site more than a historical place. But it was not the first choice of protesters two decades back. In Post-Independence period till the mid 80's, the Boat Club lawns which run parallel to Rajpath was the first Site of protest but altogether in 1988, Mahender Singh Tikait with thousands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh started protesting at the lawns with their cattles, cooking food and lighting bonfires openly. A PIL was filed in The Apex court asking the Government to allot new place for protests in Delhi. This was the time when Jantar Mantar was chosen as the protest site officially. Since the past two decades, Jantar Mantar has seen many protests and Dharnas whether it was for Bhopal Gas Tragedy Victims, Gulabi Gang's demand for Bundelkhand, justice for Aarushi Talwar, Rights of tribals of Odisha, Irom Sharmila's protest against Northeast's AFSPA. The most horrific protest Jantar Mantar has ever seen was in 1998 in which a Tibetan protester set himself on fire during the protest for Tibetan cause. Couple of years back, Anna Hazare went on a indefinite fast demanding strict Jan Lokpal bill in April 2011. It became a huge milestone in recent history of the Astronomical monument.Lakhs of citizens joined the protest and the hunger strike got huge media coverage. Then, Delhi Police issued formal guidelines demanding protesters to apply for permission and a no-objection certificate to allot the place for protest or rally some days in advance for security reasons. Last year in December 2012, following Delhi gang-rape case huge protesters gathered at Jantar Mantar demanding stringent law against the rape. But, this protest witnessed some violence when Police lathi charged on the crowd to quell the mob. Some months ago, Jats community of Rajasthan started their protest for reservation of their community in Government jobs. Over the past years, Jantar Mantar saw over 1.5 lakh people taking part in agitation and protest. In the first eight months of 2010 over 12,000 were detained for breach of law. Further, from January 2006 to August 2010, at least 13,118 dharnas and as many as 5,491 demonstrations, rallies and processions were held at the site.