With thousands of people waving Pakistani and Kashmiri flag, the Indian High Commission in the United Kingdom on Thursday reverberated with anti-India slogans on the occasion of Indian Independence Day.
The protests were in support of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
India’s decision to revoke Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, caused fury in Pakistan, which cut trade and transport links and expelled India’s envoy in retaliation.
In London, protesters, who had come to the capital from other English cities on specially chartered buses, carried banners which said: “Free Kashmir”, “Kashmir is Burning”, and “Modi: Make Tea Not War”, according to a Reuters reporter.
“We want to show our solidarity with our Kashmiri brothers,” said Amin Tahir, a British pensioner of Kashmiri origin who came from Birmingham on one of the coaches.
“Since 1947 Kashmir has been struggling to be free from India. Now Modi has changed the law by force to stop Kashmir’s autonomy,” he said.
Actress Armeena Khan, who, on Tuesday, wrote an open letter to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) urging it to distance itself from Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra for “deprecating peace in favor of her patriotism at any cost”, also joined the protests.
Her husband, Fesyl Khan, went live on Twitter from the anti-Modi march.
@frk1 LIVE from the #Kashmir rally in London. https://t.co/5m5WHWHvBi
— Armeena Khan (@ArmeenaRK) August 15, 2019
Fesyl was seen speaking to the protesters, and, after talking to some children there, said: “When you take [away] the voice of little kids in Kashmir and you think that you’re gonna steal them… don’t worry because a thousand other children will voice out, kids like this.”
‘Largely Peaceful protests’
As the clashes proceeded until the end of the day, there were instances of stone-pelting and bottle-throwing, with Scotland Yard officers on duty seen tackling some of the protesters to restrain them.
The protests, which according to the Metropolitan Police resulted in one injury, was described as largely peaceful involving a small number of incidents.
“The event was largely peaceful but officers did have to react and deal with a small number of incidents as they happened. In total there were four arrests for Section 4 of the Public Order Act, affray, obstruction of police and possession of an offensive weapon,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
“Public order trained officers were policing today’s demonstration as part of a planned operation. One person was injured during the demonstrations,” it said.
As Met Police was aware of the protests, over 200 police officers were on duty to maintain the crowd and prevent any road blockings and clashes.
