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India
has denied it is stifling democratic protest after police arrested
1,300 people to halt a hunger strike by an anti-corruption activist.
Prominent campaigner Anna Hazare was arrested hours before his fast against a proposed new anti-corruption law.
India's Home Minister P Chidambaram said the detentions were
because protesters had not obeyed police conditions for the
demonstration.
"Nowhere in the world are protests allowed without conditions," he said.
"We are not prohibiting a peaceful democratic protest - we
are trying to find a reasonable set of conditions under which protests
can take place."
Mr Hazare says India's proposed anti-corruption ombudsman
should be able to investigate any official - including the prime
minister and judges.
Correspondents say he has presented an increasing challenge
for the Indian government on corruption in Asia's third largest economy,
where a series of recent high-profile scandals have tarnished the
government's image.
Plainclothes police
As news of Mr Hazare's arrest spread, his supporters came out
on the streets of many Indian cities in protest. Those detained were
arrested at different places in Delhi, with most of them being taken to a
stadium in the city.
Mr Hazare, 74, had pledged to go on hunger strike in the
capital, Delhi, on Tuesday despite police denying him permission to fast
for more than three days.
Plainclothes police officers picked him up from a house in
Delhi and drove him away in an unmarked car, fellow activist Akhil Gogoi
told the AFP news agency. Police later said he had been held for
allegedly breaching the peace.
Mr Hazare is thought to be held in a government facility. His
supporters plan to appeal to the Supreme Court against his detention.
India's Home Secretary RK Singh said Mr Hazare had been
detained because he said he "intended to defy prohibitory orders" and go
on fast at a park in Delhi.
The police laid down six conditions for the fast to take
place, which included the following: the fast should be limited to three
days; no more than 400 to 500 people are allowed to gather, and there
is parking for a certain number of vehicles.
'Corruption culture'
Mr Hazare has called the proposed anti-corruption legislation a
"cruel joke" and has described the fight against corruption as the
"second war of independence". He said the movement would not stop with
his arrest.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, a prominent supporter of Mr Hazare,
said his detention proved that the government was "dictatorial and not
heeding to the democratic rights of the people".
Several other prominent supporters of Mr Hazare were also detained.
On Monday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said hunger strikes by campaigners would not help to tackle corruption.
Mr Hazare says the proposed anti-corruption ombudsman should
be able to investigate any official - including the prime minister and
judges.
India has recently been hit by a string of high-profile
corruption scandals, including a multibillion dollar alleged telecoms
scam, alleged financial malpractices in connection with the Delhi 2010
Commonwealth Games and allegations that houses for war widows were
diverted to civil servants.
Critics of the government say the scandals point to a pervasive culture of corruption in Mr Singh's administration.
A recent survey said corruption in India cost billions of dollars and threatened to derail growth.
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