Students in Hyderabad, Telangana, were detained by the police for demonstrating in support of Palestinians on Friday, who are at war with Israel following unprecedented surprise attacks last Saturday which killed over 1300 Israelis.

The march was carried out by students belonging to two student organisations, namely, the Naujawan Bharat Sabha and the Disha Students’ Organisation (DSO), near the historic Dr BR Ambedkar Statue near the Lakdikapul area of the city. The students were detained and taken to the police station in Saifabad.

Hina Mercin, one of the protestors hailing from DSO, told The New Indian that it had only been five minutes since they had started protesting that they were “manhandled” and detained by the police. “We had just started sloganeering when the police arrived and detained us. They said that since elections are just around the corner, we had to inform them of the protest according to the Election Code,” Mercin said.

However, the protesting student also added that they had conducted such spontaneous protests before as well but it was the first time that they were being detained sans instigation. She said, “We have conducted protests before as well but this time they were scared of this protest. They told us that it was because of the Electoral Code procedures that we were being detained, but we suspect that there have been instructions from other authorities.”

Authorities have said that the students have now been released from police custody. “They were detained because there had been no permission granted to the demonstrators. Now, the demonstrators have been released. They had been released at 5 PM today.”

About Israel-Palestine War:

On October 7, Hamas led a large-scale offensive against Israel from the Gaza Strip. In response, Israel bombed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes.

As of October 13, over 1,300 Israeli soldiers have lost their lives, and another 3,200 have sustained injuries. The Israeli government has issued evacuation orders for 1.1 million people in Gaza.

Numerous casualties have been reported on both sides of the conflict. To date, Israel has deployed 6,000 bombs on Gaza. Additionally, Israel is fortifying its defences in proximity to the Gaza border.