Protesting All India Students’ Federation (AISF) activists being detained after a clash broke out between them and the police in Mumbai on Saturday. (Ganesh Shirsekar)Student organisations and Opposition supporters staged separate protests in south Mumbai on Saturday against the Delhi Police’s removal of activist Sonam Wangchuk from his hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, with Mumbai Police detaining protesters and registering cases against organisers for holding demonstrations without permission.Under the banner of Mumbai Against Suppression of Students (MASS), members of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Students’ Federation (AISF), Aamchi Padhai Aamchi Ladai and other groups gathered outside Azad Maidan to condemn Wangchuk’s detention and express solidarity with students protesting over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG 2026 examination.According to organisers, around 100 people participated in the protest. They alleged that police detained around 50 protesters shortly after the demonstration began, citing the lack of permission, before later releasing them.“We organised this protest against the illegal detention of Sonam Wangchuk at Jantar Mantar. We stand in solidarity with him and condemn the actions of the Delhi Police as well as the detention of students protesting here in Mumbai,” an SFI member said.In a statement, MASS alleged that the Centre was attempting to suppress democratic protests and student movements. The organisation also appealed to Mumbaikars to join future demonstrations in support of Wangchuk and the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).Separately, a group of 15 to 20 Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) workers staged a protest near Mantralaya over the same issue. Marine Drive police detained the protesters and later released them after registering an FIR against four to five organisers and issuing notices.Police also registered a case against seven persons after around 25 CJP supporters assembled outside Azad Maidan without permission and raised slogans against the Delhi Police’s action. The organisers have been booked under charges of disobedience to a public servant’s order, wrongful restraint, unlawful assembly and relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Police Act.Story continues below this adWangchuk, who had been on an indefinite hunger strike at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in support of the CJP’s demand for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged NEET-UG irregularities, was shifted to Safdarjung Hospital on Saturday after his health deteriorated. While the Delhi Police said the move was made on medical grounds, protesters alleged he was forcibly removed to end the agitation.Saturday’s demonstrations came a day ahead of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray’s scheduled public meeting at Shivaji Park in support of the CJP, signalling growing political and student support for the agitation in Mumbai.