The police have deployed thousands of officials and put up barricades in several areas of Delhi to stop wrestlers protesting at the Jantar Mantar from moving towards the new Parliament building that was inaugurated on Sunday morning, PTI reported.

The country’s top wrestlers have been holding a sit-in protest for more than a month to demand the arrest and ouster of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the chief of Wrestling Federation of India. Singh, also a Bharatiya Janata Party MP, has been accused of sexually harassing seven women players, including a minor.

On Sunday, Olympic bronze medal winner Bajrang Punia told ANI that the wrestlers will certainly hold a “mahila mahapanchayat” or women’s conclave. “We are fighting for our self-respect,” he added. “They are inaugurating the new Parliament building today, but murdering democracy in the country.”

Punia also claimed that around 1000-2000 of those supporting the wrestlers have been detained by the police in Haryana, Delhi and other areas.

However, the police said that the protestors have not been given permission for their plan to march to the new Parliament building and also for holding the conclave.

“We have completely covered the entire Jantar Mantar protest venue. It is being guarded by our security personnel,” a police officer told PTI. “CCTV cameras installed there are being constantly monitored. There are heavy barricades placed and to keep strict vigil on the activities and to ensure no one moves outside the venue...For each protester, we have deployed at least five police personnel.”

The police have also deployed forces at the entry points of Delhi from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to stop farmers and khap pancayat leaders from entering the capital city to show their solidarity to the wrestlers.

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait had earlier said that thousands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh will gather at Delhi’s Ghazipur border at 10.30 am on Sunday and then enter Delhi to extend support to the wrestlers, PTI reported.

Tikait was a prominent face of the year-long farmers protest against three agriculture laws, which culminated in the legislation being withdrawn in November 2021. Border entry points of Delhi like Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur were sites of protest where thousands of farmers had hunkered down in sit-in agitations.

An unidentified senior police officer told PTI that every vehicle entering Delhi on Sunday will be checked and anyone whom the police feels has the potential to disrupt the law and order situation in the city Delhi will not be allowed.

The police have issued a traffic advisory that New Delhi district will be treated as a controlled area on Sunday. According to the traffic advisory, only public transport vehicles, civil service aspirants, bonafide residents, labelled vehicles and emergency vehicles will be allowed to move in the New Delhi area. The Delhi traffic police have urged people to plan their journey accordingly and avoid the New Delhi district from 5.30 am to 3 pm.

The police have also asked the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for permission to use MC Primary Girls School in Kanjawala Chowk area of Old Bawana as a temorary jail.

The new Parliament building was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. More than 20 Opposition parties boycotted the event, saying that Modi’s decision to inaugurate the building instead of the president was “not only a grave insult but a direct assault on our democracy”.

The parties also said that it undermines the spirit of inclusion since Murmu is also the first Adivasi president of the country. They have also taken exception to holding the inauguration ceremony on the birth anniversary of Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar.