October 25, 2026
Hundreds of protesters gathered at Bangla Sahib in Delhi at 1 PM on October 23 for a protest called by People Against SIR, a collective of over 100 organisations mobilising against the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across the country. Along with detentions and use of force, security personnels are using another tactic - blowing whistles to silence the voices.
Across several recent protests in Delhi — from the CJP protest on October 10 to the Opposition march on October 12 and the People Against SIR protest on October 23 — a similar pattern has been visible in the police response.
The police initially allow the protests to proceed. Gradually, groups of police personnel begin blowing whistles, creating an overwhelming wall of sound that drowns out slogans and makes it difficult for protesters to hear one another. As the noise intensifies, the police begin pushing back the crowd and detaining protesters.
Repeated across different demonstrations, this tactic raises questions about the use of sound and crowd-control measures to disrupt protests. Beyond drowning out voices, the whistles can create confusion, fear and panic among protesters, making it harder for them to communicate, coordinate and exercise their right to peaceful assembly.