Schoolchildren in Mahoba block Jhansi-Mirzapur highway to demand safer roads
India
Fed up with dangerous, pothole-filled roads and waterlogging near their village, a group of schoolchildren in Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh, took matters into their own hands.
They blocked the Jhansi-Mirzapur Highway for nearly three hours to demand safer roads, using logs and stones to stop traffic until officials intervened and assured the students that their complaints would be taken up with the concerned department.
Students say police used force
The protest got authorities' attention fast. But students say police used force to clear them out: some were dragged off the road and girls forming a human chain were threatened with action against their parents and warned of a lathicharge.