Protests remain tame in 2024, restrictions galore

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru Protests that took place in Bengaluru in particular and Karnataka in general in 2024 came under scrutiny just as in years past due to a 2021 Karnataka High Court (HC) order restricting the locations of demonstrations. The order had forbidden demonstrations anywhere in Bengaluru except Freedom Park. The court order led to the framing of the Licensing and Regulation of Protests, Demonstrations and Protest Marches (Bengaluru City) Order, 2021.

Similar restrictions apply elsewhere but the limitations tend to be much more severe in the state capital. Pro-Palestine protesters staged a demonstration at the Freedom Park on October 5 this year, demanding that the Indian Union government alongside other countries force Israel to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza. As many as 600 people including People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and All India Students Association (AISA), the student’s wing of Communist Party of India (Marxi s t - Leninist) and Sexual Minorities Forum (SMF) participated in the protests alongside local Muslim civil society members. However, the protesters said that despite adhering to the rules, they were threatened with First Information Reports (FIRs) by cops because they carried the Palestine flag.

This forced them to show up with watermelon slices which bear the same colours as the Palestine’s flag. This was a practice made popular by Palestinian protestors who showed up with watermelons when the display of their flag was banned by Israel, an occupying power. On October 7, 2023, Palestinian armed groups launched an attack into southern Israel, which alongside Israeli airstrikes killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians. However, Israeli assaults on Gaza mainly through airstrikes, have taken more than 42,000 lives, mostly civilians, including over 16,000 children.

Medical journal Lancet’s study found that at least 1,86,000 Gazans would die eventually due to indirect reasons like diseases. Panchamasalis make quota demands Panchamasalis, a Lingayat sub-sect, claim to account for 60 per cent of the community, have also staged protests at Freedom Park in 2024. Under the leadership of seer Basavajaya Mrutunjaya Swamy, they demand they be shifted from the Other Backward Classes 3B sub-category which gives them five per cent reservation along with other Lingayats, to 2A sub-category which would afford them 15 per cent quota.