– Mohammed Atherulla Shariff
Bengaluru, October 18, 2023: ‘Don’t lose courage, don’t be despair, we are all with you’ is the unequivocal call to the Palestinians from concerned citizens. A massive rally was held on the most prominent venue the MG Road here Monday.
Bahutva Karnataka, All India Central Council of Trade Unions, People’s Union for Civil Liberties and many other organisations held a sudden protest at an unusual place which left the police caught unaware. They were denied permission by the police at the designated venue i.e. Freedom Park, a day before, it was alleged. A minimal police presence at the protest site was more than enough to deal with the situation since everything was peaceful.
The crowd included a large number of young men and women and the elderly people as well. Several of them carried placards with slogans, “Stop the Genocide”, “Gaza, We Are With You”, “Save Palestine”, etc. Many of the protestors spoke to the media while others expressed their protest silently.
A 70-year-old person wanted peace to prevail and ceasefire declared immediately at the war zone. “Israeli leaders, in the name of freedom, democracy and secularism are killing innocent people,” a youngster was all about to say.
Anger against fake news
A young woman said: “This is a symbolic protest. Going against the law of the land is not our aim. We want to highlight the atrocities being committed by Israel and the fake news spread by the mainstream media.”
Aishwarya Ravikumar, general secretary of PUCL said it was “unfortunate” that in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, protestors standing up for Palestine were being detained and reprimanded by police. “India has always stood with Palestine. In Bengaluru, we tried to bring people together who continue to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, no matter what people in power are trying to do,” she stated.
A few of the protestors in Bengaluru were also detained by the police and were released later.
