Labour Day cel­e­bra­tions in Fyz­abad were over­shad­owed yes­ter­day by the ar­rest of so­cial ac­tivist Alyssa Phillip af­ter po­lice stopped her and mem­bers of the 19 Bul­lets, 19 Protests move­ment from join­ing the an­nu­al march, prompt­ing crit­i­cism from trade union lead­ers and politi­cians.

Video footage showed of­fi­cers in tac­ti­cal and ri­ot gear es­cort­ing Phillip in­to a po­lice ve­hi­cle as dis­ap­prov­ing on­look­ers shout­ed at of­fi­cers, call­ing them “shame­ful” and ac­cus­ing them of hav­ing “frag­ile egos.”

When Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed the Fyz­abad Po­lice Sta­tion, an am­bu­lance was prepar­ing to trans­port Phillip to the Siparia Dis­trict Health Fa­cil­i­ty. Rel­a­tives de­clined to com­ment.