Mumbai police detain pro-Palestine activists over Gaza solidarity campaign
BJP government’s double standards over Palestine come under scrutiny
Mumbai: In an act of intimidation against people expressing solidarity with Palestine, police in Mumbai detained three pro-Palestine activists and searched the home of a woman volunteer without producing a warrant, following their participation in a kite-flying campaign held in solidarity with Palestinian children.
The activists had recently participated in the Global Gaza Kite Weekend, an international campaign expressing solidarity with children in Gaza, the Indian People in Solidarity with Palestine (IPSP) said in a statement.
The group said the plainclothes personnel identifying themselves as police officials entered the residence of an IPSP volunteer, Harshada, intimidated her and forcibly detained her. Uniformed police personnel later returned and searched her home without producing a warrant, written notice or any other document authorizing the search, the statement said. The police also confiscated some of her belongings. Two other volunteers who had participated in the Gaza-kite campaign were also detained and interrogated by Mumbai Police, IPSP said.
The group said police personnel remained at Harshada’s residence more than nine hours after the search began. IPSP condemned the action as an assault on democratic rights and civil liberties and said it violated Harshada’s right to privacy.
“A child flying a kite is a threat to the Israeli state, and youngsters flying kites in solidarity with the children of Gaza are a threat to the Indian state,” the statement said. The group also criticised what it described as attempts to intimidate people expressing solidarity with Palestinians, saying such actions would strengthen its resolve to continue its campaign.
The group also pointed to the BJP-led Indian government’s double standards over Palestine, contrasting India’s stated support for Palestinian freedom at the BRICS summit with what it described as repeated action against pro-Palestine activists in the country. IPSP said that such actions revealed New Delhi’s alignment with Tel Aviv and the United States despite its public expression of humanitarian concern for Palestinians.
IPSP demanded action over the illegal conduct of Mumbai Police and appealed to citizens and journalists to pressure the police to stop what it called the “witch-hunting” of people expressing solidarity with Palestine.
