Pics: Ramesh Pandith
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)

Mangaluru, Aug 17: Over a thousand students under the banner of Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Wednesday August 17 protested over anti-India and 'Azadi' slogans allegedly raised at the recent Amnesty International India event in Bengaluru, and demanded immediate arrest of those involved.

A rally was held from Dr Ambedkar circle to the DC's office, where the protest meet was held.

Addressing the protestors, ABVP organizing secretary Naveen said, "Bengaluru is a city of IT (information technology) and BT (biotechnology), but today unfortunately we are hearing anti-national and pro-Pakistan slogans there. Our protest is not against the police who lathi-charged the ABVP workers, but against the anti-nationals who raised slogans against India and the Indian Army.

"The state government, instead of supporting the students on this issue, has used lathis against them. Amnesty International is an NGO which is in favour of Pakistan, how could the state government give permission to organize the programme?" he questioned.

"The shameless state government is against farmers and students," he added.

ABVP activist Keerthan said that if the incident had happened in Mangaluru, students from all colleges would have protested in unison.

The protestors also demanded the arrest of those who allegedly shouted the slogans during the event.

They also threatened to barge into the DC's office if DC Dr K G Jagadeesh did not come outside to accept their memorandum within 10 minutes.

DC Dr Jagadeesh and ADC Kumar then met the protestors and accepted their memorandum. The DC assured that he would forward their appeal to the state government, after which the protest was called off.