Visuals of protests showed protestors stomping on pictures of the French President
Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, saw massive protest against French President Emmanuel Macron for his defence of blasphemous cartoons and highly objectionable and arrogant statements against Islam and Muslims. On Thursday, thousands of people marched through the streets showing their strong rejection of the French stance.
Similar protests were held in Mumbai, Bhiwandi, Hyderabd and at Aligarh Muslim University.
The Bhopal protest was led by Congress MLA Arif Masood. The protestors gathered at the historic Iqbal Maidan, holding placards that said ‘Prophet Muhammad is our Honour’, ‘France is heading towards self-destruction’ and stomped on pictures of the ‘devil’ Macron that were scattered on the ground.
Visuals of protests in Mumbai also showed protestors stomping on pictures of the French President.
According to media reports, police booked Masood and 200 others under section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing during the protests.
Masood told the jam-packed crowd that a “rebellion will be raised from the city”, even as he clarified that Islam has always been against terrorism and so it will be in the future. “Islam and its followers have always been against the weak and we could never side with the tormentor,” he said.
The Congress MLA was also instrumental in organising protests to oppose mob lynching linked to cow vigilantism, law to criminalise triple talaq and the demonstrations against CAA-NCR in the city. During the protests over CAA-NRC earlier this year, Masood had launched the ‘We will not show papers’ campaign.
Students at AMU, Aligarh, shouted slogans against Macron while holding banners and called for a boycott of French products. The protesters also burnt posters of the French President.
The protest march on Thursday began from AMU’s Duck Point to the Baba Syed Gate via Engineering College, Deeniyat Department, Art Faculty, Vice-Chancellor Lodge, Staff Club.
One of the student leaders said that the remarks of the French President regarding Islam cannot be tolerated. He said France-made products are being boycotted all over the world, causing a loss of billions of dollars to France in three days. The protestors said products made by French companies are also prevalent in India and appealed to the AMU fraternity to boycott French products.
Bhiwandi in Thane, Maharashtra, also witnessed a protest on October 26 by Raza Academy, which condemned the French President and called on Muslim-majority nations to immediately expel French ambassadors from their countries.
The academy had handed a memorandum to Additional Commissioner Mumbai Dayneshwar Chauhan seeking that an FIR be filed against Macron, and also urged Muslims to boycott French products and register a protest on Eid-e-Milad. The academy also had trended a twitter hashtag #MacrontheDevil while a section On social media trended #IStandWithMacron.
In Hyderabad, anti-France protests were held at Nampally. According to report, the Tahreek-E-Islami Hyderabad, a Sunni Muslim organisation, staged a protest on Friday morning at Nampally. Protesters chanted “Boycott French products” and called for President Macron to be punished for his comments on Islam.
Hundreds of people protested demanding a boycott of French goods amid a row over France’s tougher stance on radical Islam. They also stomped on photos of President Emmanuel Macron, who had defended cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
