At several points, the Indian flag was torn by hand and shredded underfoot, and protesters on both sides traded slogans and insults.

An anti-India protest outside the Indian High Commission on Republic Day, a day on which groups have held protests annually, took a new form on Friday as scuffles took place between anti-India and pro-India groups, and police were forced to intervene. At several points, the Indian flag was torn by hand and shredded underfoot, and protesters on both sides shouted slogans and insults at each other.

The anti-India ‘Black Day’ protest was organised by Lord Nazir Ahmed, a non-affiliated Member of the House of Lords, a day after he launched a new campaign, which includes five vans with billboards championing separatist movements, including “Free Kashmir,” “Free Khalistan,” “Free Assam,” “Free Nagaland” and “Free Manipur,” and will drive across central London.

‘Khalistan Azaadi’ among slogans

In the early afternoon, the vans gathered outside the High Commission, with the two camps — the anti India camp and the counter-protesters initially separated by police — gathering opposite each other leading to heated exchanges. “Khalistan Azaadi” and “RSS terrorists” were some of the slogans of the anti-India protesters while the others shouted “Vande Mataram” and “Modi! Modi!”

“We are celebrating India’s democracy,” said Jayu Shah of Friends of India Society International, one of the organisers of the counter-protest group, who said the group had learnt the significance of counter-protests during the November 2016 visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when two separate groups congregated outside Downing Street. “From now on, we have to be vocal.”

Hindutva mention

At the protest, Lord Ahmed told The Hindu, the vans would travel to other areas with a large Indian diaspora, including Birmingham, and Manchester, and would continue until Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Britain in April. “We want to tell people that this so-called democracy that they are celebrating are actually an expansion of Hindutva,” he said, drawing a parallel between the treatment of minorities in India and under Adolf Hitler’s Germany.

Ahead of the launch of Lord Ahmed’s campaign, sources in London said India had expressed its concerns through a note verbale to the British Foreign Office, around the use of government and public property by anti-India groups and had been given assurances that forums such as London taxis or buses or billboards on public property could not be used to promote such messages. However, the use of private billboard vans is not something that has been taken up.

Trend of such protests

India has regularly used its channels here to express concerns about anti-India activity, particularly that perceived to incite violence or hatred. Earlier this year, the Birmingham Council withdrew permission for a rally due to take place on the death anniversary of Burhan Wani, after India raised its concerns about the event and the eulogisation of the Kashmir militant.

Lord Ahmed, a Life Peer who was born in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and grew up in England, was suspended from the Labour Party in 2012, and then resigned from the party, after reports that he had offered a £10 million “bounty” for the capture of former U.S. President Barack Obama, which he denies.