Black flags to Anna Hazare

A handful of people showed black flag to veteran social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday morning as he was heading for the Azad Maidan venue via Juhu to begin his three-day hunger strike in Mumbai, demanding a strong Lokpal Bill.

The nearly 20 protesters shouted slogans against Anna as he began his journey from a state guesthouse at around 930 am and went to Juhu to pay his respect before a statue of Mahatma Gandhi ahead of his fast agitation.

About 50,000 people are expected to show up at the MMRDA Grounds in Mumbai where Hazare will launch his strike demanding government action against all-pervasive corruption, as the issue that captured public imagination across India in 2011 prepares to spill over into the new year.

More than 1.3 lakh people have already signed up online for the unprecedented second phase of the Hazare's latest campaign -- a Jail Bharo (Fill The Jails) where volunteers will court arrest in front of lawmakers' residences --- that is scheduled for Jan 1, 2012.

The self-styled Gandhian, who champions the non-violent methods of protest preached by Mahatma Gandhi, hailed in India as Father of the Nation, has announced that he himself will court arrest at the residence of Sonia Gandhi, the chief of India's ruling Congress party.

The fast by Hazare that is scheduled to begin at 11:00 am, will coincide with the Lok Sabha reconvening in an extended Winter Session of the Parliament to debate and vote on the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill, the government's draft of which has been widely criticised as weak.