Lucknow — Several advocates in Lucknow staged a sit-in on a street on Sunday to protest the demolition of more than 200 lawyers' chambers by the Lucknow Municipal Corporation following an Allahabad High Court order, news agency IANS reported.

Source: IANS via HiIndia

Police and administration officials had arrived at the site near the district court at Kaiserbagh on Sunday to carry out the demolition. The Times of India, in a report carried by North India News, said lawyers climbed onto a bulldozer and lay in front of its wheels to stop the drive against encroachments near the district court.

Source: Times of India via NIN 24x7

Advocate Balram Jakhar told IANS the lawyers respect the court order but want an alternative arrangement before any demolition, saying at least 2,000 advocates were affected. Those figures and claims are the protesting lawyers' position, as reported by the agency.

The chambers dispute is a long-running one: the Allahabad High Court had earlier directed the Municipal Corporation to remove encroachments near the Lucknow District and Sessions Court, and the Supreme Court later refused to interfere with that order, according to Bar and Bench.