Campuses across the country as well abroad reverberated with voices of protest and anguish on Monday over the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and attacks on students and faculty members by an armed masked mob on Sunday evening.
Oxford University and Sussex University in London besides Columbia University in the US witnessed protest over the JNU violence, while within the country, demonstrations took place at Pondicherry University, Bangalore University, Hyderabad University, Aligarh Muslim University, University of Mumbai, Delhi University, Ambedkar University, Banaras Hindu University, Chandigarh University, National Law University in Bengaluru, Savitri Bai Phule University in Pune, TISS Mumbai, Jadavpur University, Presidency University, Kolkata and IIT Bombay.
Students staged peaceful marches to register their protest against the violence on the JNU campus and also took to twitter with hashtag “SOSJNU” trending on social media.
“Today it is them, tomorrow it can be us. Violence in any form is condemnable. We stand by our friends in JNU,” Raiza, a Pondicherry University student said.
Students at Oxford University and University of Sussex in the UK and Columbia University in the US also staged silent marches holding posters demanding safety of students on campus.
In Nepal, JNU alumni gathered at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu to protest against the violence on campus.
In Mumbai, the protest by students at the Gateway of India that started at midnight continued with more people flocking at the iconic monument to express solidarity with the JNU students.
Maharashtra Minister Jitendra Awhad of NCP joined the students at the protest and sat with them to discuss their demands.
“When people begin to fear intellect, there is anarchy,” the Minister told reporters as students shouted slogans condemning the violence.
Students of the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune also staged a demonstration outside the FTII gate, holding banners with messages like - ‘FTIIstands with JNU, condemns the violence of ABVP Goons’.
A day after the violence in JNU campus, a group of students at Panjab University disrupted the address of Haryana Speaker Gian Chand Gupta.
Carrying banners, the students belonging to some Left-leaning student bodies, shouted slogans against the BJP, RSS and the ABVP when the Haryana speaker was addressing a seminar at the Panjab University on Monday.
In Kolkata, students of Jadavpur University began their protest after midnight and chanted slogans against the violence at JNU. Students of the Jadavpur and the Presidency universities also took out rallies in Kolkata to protest the violence at JNU campus.
Violence broke out at JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and vandalised property on the campus, prompting the university administration to call in the police to control the situation.
Many JNU students were injured and admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here. JNU Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh suffered a head injury. All 34 students who were admitted to AIIMS trauma centre were discharged on Monday morning.
The Left-controlled JNUSU and the ABVP blamed each other for the violence that continued for nearly two hours on Monday evening.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police on Monday registered a case against unidentified people for rioting and damage to property.