New Delhi: The organisers of the three-day We20 Summit being held in Delhi – which was disrupted by the Delhi Police on Saturday – have received a notice on Sunday, the last day of the summit, saying that permission for the event has been denied.The event was being held in Delhi’s HKS Surjeet Bhawan, which is owned by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).In a letter to the organisers dated August 19, which the organisers say they received on August 20 morning, the Delhi Police has said that the organisers’ request “has been considered but due to law & order/traffic reason, and non availability of the vital information pertaining to the gathering, visitors etc which is needed as per oredor (sic) of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi…[permission for] program is hereby rejected”.In a statement released in response, the organisers of the event, under the aegis of the Working Group On International Financial Institutions, have said they are “shocked that we need to have “permission” to practice democracy”.“While in the official G20 summit there are claims of us being the “Mother of Democracy”, the state of affairs that we have witnessed here at the We20 Peoples’ Summit only goes on to show how we are inching closer to being a police state. One where even dialogues, deliberations inside the four walls and thoughts are being policed,” the statement continues.“While the elite club will commence their summit next month, it will be one that is less about people and their real concerns; and more about the same doses neoliberal policy prescriptions of their masters that has led us into crisis. We are glad that the We 20 Peoples’ Summit gave us the opportunity where real issues like inequality, climate crisis, just energy transition, labour rights, social protection, corporatisation of agriculture, attack on natural resources could be discussed, and real alternatives could be deliberated upon,” the organiser state.Day 3 of the event was supposed to witness sessions on ‘reimagining cities’, ‘fascism and marginalisation’, and ‘reclaiming our resources’. Speakers included several renowned activists and academics including Medha Patkar, Virginius Xaxa, Amrita Johari and others.The rest of the day was planned as a cultural event, with performances by progressive theatre groups, bands that sing revolutionary music and a stand-up comic.As The Wire has reported, on Saturday the event witnessed a sudden police crackdown. The police initially asked people to leave but after people resisted, they stopped and then restricted themselves to preventing entry into Surjeet Bhawan. After people and speakers stood their ground, the police allowed the event to continue for the day.Speakers, including parliamentarians, academics and activists, said the sudden police crackdown on the people’s summit – which is critical about the G20 leader’s summit to be hosted by India – reflects India’s severe backsliding on the democracy scale.