A group of protesters at Shaheen Bagh in south Delhi "opened" a stretch of the road barricaded by the police for over two months. Police, however, said the road was later closed by another group.
"Road number 9 in Shaheen Bagh was reopened by a group of protesters, but later it was closed by another group," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) RP Meena said.
This was denied by the protesters who said the road was blocked by the police.
"It was being alleged repeatedly that the protestors have blocked the Kalindi Kunj road, which leads to Noida Sector 37. So, today it was decided that this allegation has to be done away with and the route was opened," a protestor was quoted as saying by PTI.
"The decision was also taken to give a gift to the Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors, whose interaction and mediation has helped reopen the case. We have opened the road and it is now up to the Delhi Police and UP police to decide which vehicles they will allow," he added.
Supreme Court-appointed interlocutors -- senior advocates Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran -- have held three days of talks with the protesters over the issue of difficulty to commuters due to blocking of roads.
The road was earlier barricaded by the police after the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protesters blocked a stretch of the Road No. 13 A (Sarita Vihar-Noida) on December 15. The road connects Noida to south east Delhi and further to Faridabad in Haryana.
Police put multiple barricades on each side of the protest site. The stretch connecting Noida's Mahamaya Flyover to Delhi has also been barricaded by Uttar Pradesh Police while the other side has been blocked by their Delhi counterparts.
Protestors claimed that they removed the barricade and "opened" the stretch at around 5 pm near the protest site despite the Delhi police and the Noida police continuing their blockade from the two sides.
The opening of the road would have allowed passage from Delhi's Jamia Nagar area to Noida, easing the traffic on DND flyway.
Police said the protesters briefly opened a small portion of a road leading to Kalindi Kunj so that locals can pass through it with their two-wheelers.
The Noida Traffic Police, however, continued the restrictions on the Uttar Pradesh side of the road, an official was quoted as saying by PTI.
Earlier on Friday, the road from Noida through Kalindi Kunj towards Faridabad was reopened for a brief period by the UP Police, only to be closed a few minutes later.
According to reports, the police removed the barricades on the stretch from Noida's Mahamaya flyover to Delhi and Faridabad was opened just for the passage of a bus. They were placed again after a few minutes.
