Kites and cops: Mumbai activists allege crackdown over Gaza campaign

• IPSP alleges Mumbai Police detained three activists and searched a volunteer’s home over a Gaza solidarity kite campaign.

• The group says the search continued for more than nine hours without a warrant or written authorisation.

• IPSP has called the alleged action an attack on civil liberties and demanded action against the police.

A kite-flying campaign in solidarity with Palestinian children has led to an alleged police crackdown in Mumbai, with Indian People in Solidarity with Palestine (IPSP) claiming that three activists were detained and the home of a woman volunteer was searched without a warrant in the early hours of Saturday, 19 September, as reported by Maktoob Media.

The activists had recently participated in the Global Gaza Kite Weekend, an international campaign expressing solidarity with children in Gaza.

According to IPSP, plain-clothes personnel identifying themselves as police officials entered the residence of its volunteer Harshada, intimidated her and forcibly detained her.

Uniformed police personnel later returned and searched the house, the group alleged, without producing a warrant, written notice or any other document authorising the search. IPSP also claimed that some of Harshada’s belongings were confiscated.

Two other volunteers who had participated in the Gaza kite campaign were subsequently detained and interrogated by Mumbai Police, the group said.

In an update issued at 2.15 am, IPSP said police personnel had remained at Harshada’s residence for more than nine hours after the search began. 'More than 9 hours — and counting — for "searching" a person’s place of residence without a warrant merely for flying kites in solidarity with Palestinian children!' the group said.

The episode, if the allegations are borne out, gives a rather extraordinary edge to what organisers had presented as an act of solidarity involving perhaps the least menacing object imaginable — a kite.

IPSP described the alleged police action as an assault on democratic rights and civil liberties and a violation of Harshada’s right to privacy. 'A child flying a kite is a threat to the Israeli state, and youngsters flying kites in solidarity with the children of Gaza are a threat to the Indian state,' the statement said.

The group also accused the BJP-led Union government of maintaining a double standard on Palestine, contrasting India’s stated support for Palestinian freedom at the BRICS summit with what it described as repeated action against pro-Palestine activists in the country.

IPSP alleged that such actions reflected the Indian government’s alignment with Israel and the United States despite its public expressions of humanitarian concern for Palestinians.

'However, such attempts to intimidate us only strengthen our collective resolve! Mumbai Police is yet to realise — the greater the state’s repression, the stronger our unity!' the group said.

IPSP demanded action over what it described as illegal conduct by Mumbai Police and appealed to citizens and journalists to press the police to stop what it called the 'witch-hunting' of people expressing solidarity with Palestine.