23 Dec 2012

Protests banned in Delhi after gang-rape march

9:57 pm on 23 December 2012

Police in India have banned protests in central New Delhi against the brutal gang-rape of a woman on a bus.

Protesters earlier clashed with riot police after trying to march on the presidential palace.

The thousands of demonstrators demanded the death penalty for the suspected attackers.

The BBC reports that police have now declared the area off-limits.

The 23-year-old woman remains in a critical condition after she was attacked by the group of men, repeatedly raped and then thrown from the speeding vehicle last week.

The government has tried to halt the rising anger over the attack by announcing a series of measures intended to make Delhi safer for women.

They include more police night patrols, checks on bus drivers and their assistants and the banning of buses with tinted windows or curtains.

But the protesters say the government's pledge to seek life sentences for the attackers is not enough - many are calling for the death penalty.

Some carried placards reading "Hang the Rapists" and "Save women. Save India" as they marched on Saturday.