JNU violence: FTII students condemn attack, more protests planned

Police and students at outside of the JNU campus, after some masked miscreants attacked in the campus, New Delhi. Picture/PTI

Pune: Students of the Film & Television Institute of India here staged a protest on Sunday midnight
against violence at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. They are also planning to hold another demonstration on Monday, a meeting for which is currently underway, a member of FTII students' association said.

On Sunday midnight, the FTII students carried 'mashals' (fire torches) while shouting slogans against the violence and expressing solidarity with the JNU students. They held a demonstration outside the FTII gate, holding banners with messages like - 'FTIIstands with JNU, condemns the violence of ABVP Goons'.Later, students from various other colleges in Maharashtra's Pune city also joined the protest.

"After getting information about the JNU violence, we immediately called a meeting of students and staged a protest outside the FTII," the students' association member said. Students from various other colleges also joined the midnight agitation, he said. "What happened in JNU is condemnable and we appeal to all students from various colleges and universities here to protest such violence," he said.

A protest is planned on Monday and a meeting is underway to decide the course of action, he said. Sandip Barve, member of 'Yuvak Kranti Dal', a local youth organisation, said they will also be holding a couple of protests outside the district collectorate and at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) on Monday evening.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is also planning to stage a protest at SPPU. Violence broke out in JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police which conducted a flag march.

At least 28 people, including JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours. Eyewitnesses alleged that the attackers entered the premises when a meeting was being held by JNU Teachers' Association over the issue of violence on the campus, and assaulted students and professors. They also barged into three hostels.

Video footage aired by some TV channels showed a group of men, who were brandishing hockey sticks and rods, moving around a building. The Left-controlled JNUSU and the RSS-backed ABVP
blamed each other for the incident.

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