To skirt police restrictions, some Indian protesters take a page from
Hong Kong and beyond
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[January 04, 2020]
By Devjyot Ghoshal and Chandini Monnappa
NEW DELHI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Before
midnight on New Year's Eve, a call to action was sent on a private
WhatsApp group - within the hour, dozens gathered in the center of the
southern Indian city of Hyderabad, many holding banners to protest a
controversial new citizenship law.
Police quickly dispersed the group and briefly detained six people, but
for Syed Faheem - who formed the WhatsApp group - it marked another
successful flash protest, inspired by tactics used by protesters in Hong
Kong.
Faheem, a software consultant, is one of a growing group of opponents to
the new law who have begun to borrow tactics used in protests from Hong
Kong to Paris, to protest legislation that critics say discriminates
against Muslims.
In Hyderabad, some protesters say it is impossible to secure police
permission to hold demonstrations, forcing them to adopt new tactics to
show dissent.
"The objective is to get 30 minutes at one spot. Some people support us,
others come and argue with us," said Faheem, who has organized regular
flash protests through WhatsApp messages that are amplified via social
media.
The location of the protests, which change daily, are posted just an
hour or two in advance, with the exact spots shared just minutes ahead
of time.
Hyderabad's police chief Anjani Kumar told Reuters people are being
permitted to gather in areas such as sports grounds, or indoor
auditoriums to protest, but added: "We've not given permission for any
rally or procession because that affects traffic."
'BE WATER'
In Hong Kong, where anti-government demonstrations have raged on for
months, protesters adopted a "be water" strategy, inspired by martial
arts legend Bruce Lee, popping up in different locations almost daily to
catch authorities flat-footed.
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A boy, surrounded by demonstrators, plays a drum during a protest
against a new citizenship law in Nagaon district in the northeastern
state of Assam, India, January 4, 2020. REUTERS/Anuwar Hazarika
Sharjeel Imam, who helped organize a New Delhi sit-in protest
against the new law that has run for weeks, said he plans to adopt
the flash mob strategy to keep the agitation going.
In Hyderabad, the idea to copy Hong Kong's play-book came as
protestors sought ways to run a long-term campaign that police would
find hard to curb, two members from Faheem's group said.
"Hong Kong has been pivotal....It was very inspiring," said a
30-year-old IT professional, who declined to be identified.
After police restricted protests in another southern city, students
at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore took inspiration
from 2015 protests in Paris where shoes were put on display - in
place of canceled protests - to support action against climate
change. Students also borrowed ideas from the 1975 protests against
the imposition of an emergency in India.
"Police weren't letting us place placards with any messages, so we
copied what the press did in 1975 and left blank placards with
'Concerned Citizens of IIM-Bangalore' written on them," a student
involved in the protest said.
"Generations later, when they ask us what we did when they came for
the Muslims, I at least want to be able to say - 'We tried'", she
said.
(Reporting by Devjyot Goshal in New Delhi and Chandini Monnappa in
Bengaluru; Editing by Euan Rocha & Kim Coghill)
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