The Bengaluru City police locked down the BIFT auditorium in the city on Tuesday, where a seminar on the Palestine conflict was scheduled to take place. The event, titled “Palestine Problem: An Overview,” organized by the ‘Solidarity Youth Movement Karnataka,’ was set to commence at 6:30 pm at BIFT Auditorium, a community hall on Queens Road.
The seminar boasted a panel of prominent speakers, including social thinker Shivsunder, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind state president Dr. Muhammad Saad Belgami, senior lawyer and human rights activist BT Venkatesh, and the state president of Solidarity Youth Movement, Labid Shafi.
However, the police intervened earlier in the day, locking the hall and preventing the seminar from proceeding as planned. According to reports, the police cited the lack of permission as the reason for their intervention.
The organizers confirmed that they were summoned to the police station and were informed that the event could not proceed due to the absence of official authorization. It’s worth noting that the seminar was intended to take place in a closed-door hall, and there is generally no need to acquire police permission to conduct a seminar in such a setting, as it is not a protest or a public gathering.
The incident is not an isolated one, as activism in solidarity with Palestine has faced repeated hurdles in Karnataka. Bengaluru has been the epicenter of a wave of activism in support of Palestine, with citizens seeking to raise their voices against the ongoing conflict in the region. However, their efforts have consistently faced resistance from the local police.
A Karnataka High Court judgment in January 2022 currently allows protests only at Freedom Park in Bengaluru. However, when it comes to pro-Palestine protests, the police have been swiftly denying permission for demonstrations.
Multiple petitions seeking permission to protest at Freedom Park in solidarity with Palestine have been rejected by the Bengaluru police.
Furthermore, the police have not hesitated to detain and register FIRs against protestors expressing solidarity with Palestine. Just last month, FIRs were lodged following a gathering of activists and civil society members at the MG Road Metro Station on October 16, where they called for India to condemn Israel’s actions in Palestine. Activists were picked up by the police and detained in Ashok Nagar and Cubbon Park police stations.Activists and critics have questioned the Karnataka government’s stance, highlighting that other states in India have permitted large rallies and protests in solidarity with Palestine, while Karnataka appears to have chosen to stifle such expressions of support.
