Indian students and professionals living in different parts of Europe traveled to the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 and a prospective pan-India NRC.
A protest meeting that went on for three hours had statements from JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh, Jamia student activist Ayesha Renna, activist Sadaf Jafar.
Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad sent a voice note briefing about the situation at hand in India and appealing for support from non resident Indians.
It was chilly, windy and rainy. We stood there raising our voices and singing songs.
Bawra man dekhne Chala ek Sapna –
being sung here and it was beautiful!!#Geneva pic.twitter.com/chi1Sn8M79— Zoya Rasul (@zoyarasul) February 1, 2020
Kannan Gopinathan, ex-IAS officer and a major voice against CAA-NRC gave a live address from India. Ahmed, a resident of Assam India, sent his message outlining his ordeal by recent NRC exercise in his state.
Here’s a German whose grandfather was asked to shoot Jews under Nazi Germany and he refused.
“When we do the right thing at the right time, we save lives,” he says, asking the world to not be silent.What lovely people joined us here in #Geneva to protest against #CAA_NRC_NPR pic.twitter.com/ROegxrNmgl
— Zoya Rasul (@zoyarasul) February 1, 2020
An account of police brutality on Aligarh Muslim University students on the night of 15th December 2019 was also read out.
Azaadi slogans, ‘hum dekhenge’ and ‘bawra man’ song, inquilab chants – protesters showed their concern for the rising intolerance, communalism, police brutality, authoritarianism and dwindling of democracy in India.