The acquittal of the white policeman who shot dead an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson in August has sparked protests not just in the US but in several parts of the world. On Monday, the protests reached India, as around 100 students in New Delhi expressed their outrage at the incident by staging a three-hour march from Jawaharlal Nehru University to the US embassy.
"We saw the connections between the anti-racist struggle in the US and the struggles of Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, African immigrant, and other groups that are oppressed by the Indian state,” explained Meghna Chandra, a student of Modern History at JNU and one of the organisers of the demonstration.
She added that the protests were a way of sending a message to the Indian and US governments that students stand in solidarity against “global oppression”.
Even though the students had obtained permission for the event, they faced police all along the route of their march.
To begin with, it took over 45 minutes for the protesters to convince the police to let them march. “They relented and said that we could proceed to a school (of all the places) half a kilometer away from the embassy, provided we agree to be escorted by them," the protestors said in a statement. "This was when their escort vehicle tried to misdirect our bus away from the embassy to Jantar Mantar, which is a “safe spot” to dump all protests in, away from the ivory-towers of power and privilege."
Police armed with lathis, water-cannons and riot-gear ensured that the protesters did not get too close to the embassy.
Speakers at the event criticised “the rampant militarisation and white-supremacy in the US, as well as revitalised casteism and racism in the Indian context”, and expressed their resentment at the “neo-liberal enterprise between the ruling classes of both countries".
Picture credits: K Fayaz Ahmed, Carthi Mannikarottu and Geeta Singh.
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"We saw the connections between the anti-racist struggle in the US and the struggles of Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, African immigrant, and other groups that are oppressed by the Indian state,” explained Meghna Chandra, a student of Modern History at JNU and one of the organisers of the demonstration.
She added that the protests were a way of sending a message to the Indian and US governments that students stand in solidarity against “global oppression”.
Even though the students had obtained permission for the event, they faced police all along the route of their march.
To begin with, it took over 45 minutes for the protesters to convince the police to let them march. “They relented and said that we could proceed to a school (of all the places) half a kilometer away from the embassy, provided we agree to be escorted by them," the protestors said in a statement. "This was when their escort vehicle tried to misdirect our bus away from the embassy to Jantar Mantar, which is a “safe spot” to dump all protests in, away from the ivory-towers of power and privilege."
Police armed with lathis, water-cannons and riot-gear ensured that the protesters did not get too close to the embassy.
Speakers at the event criticised “the rampant militarisation and white-supremacy in the US, as well as revitalised casteism and racism in the Indian context”, and expressed their resentment at the “neo-liberal enterprise between the ruling classes of both countries".
Picture credits: K Fayaz Ahmed, Carthi Mannikarottu and Geeta Singh.