Delhi: Peaceful Pro-Palestine Protest Met With 'Jai Shree Ram' Chants, Threats in Police Presence

The Wire

4 hours ago

Atul Howale
'The police were completely deferential in allowing them (right-wing mob), even as they threatened to push us. It reveals a deep divide,' says activist Harsh Mander, who was at the demonstration.
Protesters hold banners near the HP showroom in Nehru Place as onlookers gather on the first-floor gallery. Photo: Atul Howale
New Delhi: A peaceful demonstration was organised on Saturday, July 19, at the famous computer market in Nehru Place, Delhi, in protest of the genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza and in solidarity with Palestinians. Around 12:30 PM, while more than 50 people were peacefully protesting, carrying Palestinian flags and banners, a huge group of right-wing people arrived at Nehru Place to oppose it and started threatening the participants.
There was no sloganeering or chanting, nor any other misconduct by the demonstrators, but the protesters still had to face significant opposition.
Demonstrating near the HP Computers store, a mob threw mud at the participants from the first floor. Subsequently, a large number of right-wing people started shouting slogans of " Jai Shri Ram", " Har Har Mahadev" and " Vande Mataram".
After some time, the right-wing mob grew bigger. Many of them started abusing the participants and threatening them with statements like, "If you want to protest, go and do it in Palestine, not here."
A right-wing supporter chants slogans against the demonstrators in presence of Delhi Police. Photo: Atul Howale
Indian economist and social activist Jean Drèze, who was part of the peaceful demonstration, told The Wire, 'We did not raise any slogans and started to protest peacefully, but we were stopped from protesting. We are here not only to oppose the genocide in Gaza and demand an immediate ceasefire, but also to expose the complicity of the Indian government and to affirm the right to protest.'
He said, 'The current situation, whether the government gives you permission or not, we have a duty to speak out.'
'The government is with Israel because it depends on Israel for technology, especially defence and surveillance technology. It has many commercial ties with Israel. The Palestinians are powerless; they have nothing to offer, so naturally, the Indian government is taking the side of Israel. But we are with the Palestinian people, and the sentiment of the Indian public, I think, is also with the Palestinian people," he added.
Many students, university professors, artists, activists, citizens and representatives from other social organisations participated in the Nehru Place demonstration. There was no chanting or any slogans; it was a completely non-violent, peaceful protest.
A protester holds a "Free, Free Palestine" banner. Photo: Atul Howale
Starting from the centrally-located HP Computers showroom in Nehru Place market up to the Nehru Enclave metro station, a right-wing mob pursued the protesters, chanting slogans and threatening the protesters continuously – all in the presence of the Delhi Police.
Around this time, Delhi Police personnel present at the site started asking the people protesting peacefully to leave the area, saying, "You do not have permission to protest here."
Soon, the protesters were removed from the protest site.
Delhi Police officers confront the peaceful demonstrators at Nehru Place. Photo: Atul Howale
Activist Harsh Mander, who participated in the demonstration, criticised the police's double standards. He said, "In India, this protest isn't just about the state's complicit role in supporting Israel. It's also about the silence of ordinary Indians. That is why holding it in an area like Nehru Place was so important.'
'What was remarkable is how our protest was met by a spontaneous, larger crowd chanting ' Jai Shri Ram' and 'Filisteen Murdabad'. (But) the police were completely deferential in allowing them, even as they threatened to push us. It reveals a deep divide."
About half-an-hour later, even as the demonstrators moved to the Nehru Place metro station gate, the police prevented them from even gathering together. The police also stopped the journalists who were reporting on this protest and were not even letting the participants speak with journalists.
Police instructs the demonstrators to disperse from Nehru Enclave metro station. Photo: Atul Howale
Anjali, a participant in this protest, condemned this action of the police. She said, "We didn't take permission because this wasn't a protest with slogans; it was a peaceful demonstration, which is our constitutional right. Our placards had very simple messages: 'Stop the genocide,' and 'Don't arm Israel with weapons that are going to kill children'.'
'When our flags came out at 12:30 PM, a very, very angry crowd came towards us. They started questioning us, asking, 'Where is the Indian flag?' But when the Indian flag was given to them, they seemed not to care about that at all. They just kept tearing all the Palestinian flags and our peaceful placards. This is the state of how much you can dissent in the country," she said.
Like Anjali, activist and academic Nandita Narain also participated in this demonstration. Speaking to The Wire, she said, 'It's very shocking that the Indian government has completely lost its moral stature in the world. We are the country of Gandhi, and Gandhi is held up in such high esteem all over the world, not only for his stand on peaceful resistance but also to stand with the oppressed all over the world.'
A protester holds a 'Free, Free Palestine' banner. Photo: Atul Howale
'You can't push the Palestinians out and occupy that land. That is ethnic cleansing. We never imagined that in this day and age, something like this will happen and it will be applauded by so many Western countries, with their eyes shut to the kind of crimes that are going on,' she added.
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