Hazare calls for renewed mass protests

NEW DELHI, Dec 15 (AFP): Indian activist Anna Hazare threatened Thursday to start a new hunger strike and a campaign of civil disobedience unless a long-delayed anti-graft law is passed by next week. Hazare, a 74-year-old campaigner and Gandhi admirer, held a 12-day hunger strike against corruption in August that unleashed an outpouring of anger from Indians who are fed up with paying bribes. He wants the government to pass a law creating a powerful new Lokpal or Ombudsman tasked with investigating and prosecuting all public figures, including the prime minister, by the end of parliament on December 21. "I will go (on) an indefinite fast from December 27. Every person of this country who supports my movement should be ready to resume the agitation if the government ignores our demand for a strong Lokpal," Hazare said in New Delhi. "Start filling up the jails if the government ignores our wish for a strong Lokpal. Protest outside the houses of those parliamentarians who oppose the Lokpal and ask the police to arrest you," he said. Hazare said he will himself protest outside the house of the leader of the ruling Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, but added that he will drop his agitation immediately if his demands over for the new law were met.