Kathua gang rape: Indian national organises impromptu protest in Paris

Took place at 4 pm on Sunday, near the statue at Place de la Republique

The anger against the brutal rape and murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua has spilled onto the streets of Paris, too. Indian national Shibin Kuriakose, 28, organised n impromptu protest against the incident on Sunday.

"The protest took place at 4 pm on Sunday, near the statue at Place de la République and lasted for an hour," said Kuriakose, a former maths teacher from India, who is currently pursuing his masters in computer science at EPITA in Paris. "We expressed our discontent at the state of affairs back home and observed two minutes of silence for the girl," he said. However, this protest was an impromptu one as the one Kuriakose had suggested on the Facebook group 'Indians in Paris', which was supposed to be near Eiffel Tower, did not work out as he faced opposition from members of the group.

The protest, organised by Shibin Kuriakose

"I was told I was defaming India by spreading lies and that I was paid by political parties, and even paid by Pakistan... Our efforts to protest at Eiffel Tower were thwarted online. Unfortunately, a concert was also going on there." But this did not deter him. "I decided to walk on the street and ask random Indians if they could come to a protest I was organising. After talking to 100-odd people, we managed to get around 30."

Kuriakose describes the protest as peaceful yet angry. "Everyone assembled was angry and hurt. The sadness was palpable. The crowd's reaction was mixed. Everyone is hurt and strongly against the incident, but some feel protesting might bring disrepute to our country, but there are also many who feel that we, as a nation, should not condone rape culture."

On being asked how he would be taking his protest forward, he said: "I strongly feel that India has a huge diaspora, and we should use our voice to tell the government that we want justice for our little girls back home. We will be collecting signatures to send to the Indian embassy to officially register our protest with the government."

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