New Delhi, July 22 -- A day after they were struck with batons and hit with tear gas by the Delhi Police as they attempted to march to the Parliament, thousands of undeterred protesters thronged to Jantar Mantar protest site and the arterial roads around it. By 8 pm on Tuesday, it was bursting at its seams. Tolstoy Marg was full of protesters raising slogans demanding resignation of the Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and a part of Sansad Marg was filled with young protesters. By evening, security arrangements had been beefed up in the area and Delhi Police had added three layers of barricades on Sansad Marg, near Parliament Street police station. Every few minutes, police took to speakers to warn protesters to maintain law and order and remain in the designated protest area. Volunteers assigned by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which is at the centre of this movement, made a human chain to deter protesters from spilling onto the streets any further. The air reverberated with slogans of "Dilli Police Murdabad" and "We want justice." Multiple people could be seen wearing bandages and several said they had come back to the site after being released by police. "The police detained me and 10 other people at around 5.30 pm on Monday from Tolstoy Marg, and took us to Mandir Marg station at 6.30 pm. While they were very polite with us, they made a case against us under sections 126 and 170 of the BNSS, without telling us. I had to pay a Rs.5,000 release bond, and was released only at 5:00pm today," said Sameer (22), a student.. Small groups of five and ten also reached outside Delhi Police headquarters in the evening after CJP announced on X that it will hold a protest there. While they revoked the call later, it didn't keep people from stopping outside HQ for a few minutes. At Jantar Mantar, many said they had come after watching videos of violence against the protesters. They showed up with cartons of water, aerated drinks, kadhi-chawal, chips, and biscuits. Two friends came from south Delhi's East of Kailash. One told HT, "Since the stage was dismantled by police personnel on Monday and the arrangements must have been ruined, we decided to do our bit and get what we could. So, we got two cartons of chilled Lahori Jeera. It's not enough, but it's something." Usman, 23, a resident of Chawdi Bazar, was also one of them. "We saw videos of young people, including girls, being beaten up. People from my neighbourhood asked me to take some food here so neighbours pitched in with home cooked food - roti, sabzi, dal. So I have brought that for whoever would like to eat. People have been here for hours, days. This is our way of expressing solidarity." Every few hours, delivery executives stopped to deliver food ordered by strangers for anyone hungry at the protest site. Around 7.30 pm, HT met a delivery executive who was on a video call with the customer who had ordered kilos of biryani. Ravi Kumar who came from a restaurant in Greater Kailash told HT. "Someone named Anil ordered 25 veg thalis and told me to drop it near the protest venue. They just wanted to help the students. This is my second order delivery here." By 10pm, appeals were being made from the stage for a stop to online orders. Among those who met protesters at Jantar Mantar in the daytime were former Delhi chief minister Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal who arrived with senior leaders Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj, and NCP (SCP) leaders Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule. Speaking to the crowd at the protest, Kejriwal condemned the police's violence against the protesters. "These children are the future of the country. Narendra Modi's government cannot handle one NEET paper, how can they run the country? Not just Dharmendra Pradhan, but even Modi should resign." Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was also present at the site. "One resignation will not do. The whole system needs to be changed," he told the crowd. The numbers at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday grew slowly. By 8 am, there was a slight shift in the atmosphere after CJP founder Abhijit Dipke and spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka arrived, meeting students and volunteers before making their way to the partially damaged platform, now partially covered by a yellow plastic sheet to shield it from the rain. "We are going to continue our protest till the government comes here to meet us and agree with our demands. We will not start another march yet but are working out a strategy. We just want our supporters to show up here in large numbers," Dipke told HT. undreds of protesters have been injured. They said that they were assaulted as if they were criminals. Sakshi, 22, an Uttam Nagar resident, remains in the intensive care unit at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital on ventilator support. A family member said she suffered severe injuries after a stampede-like situation that followed tear gas shelling near Jantar Mantar and Tolstoy Marg. Sakshi, originally from Bihar, lives with her uncle and aunt in west Delhi while pursuing a computer science course. The Delhi Police officials have so far registered six FIRs, including one of larger criminal conspiracy, and detained six people in connection with the violence, officers aware of the matter said. The FIRs were registered on the complaints of injured police personnel at the Connaught Place and Parliament Street police stations. No arrest has been made, and further legal action would be taken based on the evidence collected. "More FIRs are likely to be registered," a senior police officer aware of the investigation said. Delhi Police officers denied allegations that they had used excessive force, claiming the protesters were "unruly and aggressive and that several police officers had been injured as a result. They said protesters were not listening to them. In a statement on Monday, Delhi Police said 118 police officials, including paramilitary officials, were injured. At least six to seven suffered serious injuries, while others had been discharged, it said. Speaking to HT, additional DCP (north) Niharika Bhatt alleged she was injured on her hand and leg after students allegedly carried out stone pelting at Sansad Marg and Janpath. "I feel the police retaliated with lathi-charge and tear gas because there was no other way to contain such a crowd," she said....