‘Free Kashmir’ poster seen at Mumbai protest against JNU violence, Fadnavis questions Uddhav

During the protest, a woman was seen holding a poster which read — “Free Kashmir”. The demonstrators were seen with several other placards. Some posters called for ‘Ban on ABVP’, while some others read “Stand with JNU”.

The protester was identified as Mehak Prabhu, who said her intentions were to only highlight the restricitions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir.

“At around 7 pm yesterday, I reached where the protest was happening at the Gateway of India. Like anybody else who belives in democracy, I also joined that protest. We were standing for justice to the JNU students,” Prabhu said in a video posted on Facebook.

“I saw a bunch of people who were painting placards on every issue like NRC, CAA and for JNU students. There was a placard lying on the side which said ‘Free Kashmir’. The first thing which came to my mind when I saw that placard was about the basic constitutional rights of Kashmiris,” she said.

The whole issue was “comepletely blown out of proportion”, she said.

“I was quietly standing with a flower in my hand. That means we need to make peace together. That was my only intention in holding that placard. The narrative to the matter was crazy”.

On Tuesday, the Mumbai Police evicted those protesting at the Gateway of India and relocated them to Azad Maidan, citing inconvenience to tourists and residents. Police forced those protesting into buses and relocated them to Azad Maidan, the city’s protest venue. While the police had earlier requested the protesters to move to another venue, they had refused.

On Sunday night, about a hundred people gathered at the Gateway of India to protest the mob violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi earlier that day. Those gathered at the venue said it was an ‘Occupy Gateway’ protest and it would continue indefinitely.

The Gateway of India, located in Colaba opposite the iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, is among the city’s most visited tourist spots.

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