An annual vigil was held on Tuesday evening at Surrey’s Holland Park in commemoration of those killed by the troops in British India 102 years ago.
Close to 1,000 peaceful demonstrators died in the indiscriminate firing at Jallianwala Bagh, a public park in Amritsar, on April 13, 1919.
The agitators had gathered to oppose draconian laws passed by the British government to suppress the freedom movement.
Organized by Mehak Punjab Di TV, the vigil attracts scores of people every year. This year however, the gathering was kept small due to COVID 19 restrictions.
The event was started with a moment of silence for protesters killed during the ongoing farmers’ agitation in India and pro-democracy campaign in Myanmar.
The participants also remembered the Black victims of police violence in the US, and the late Sarwan Singh Aujla, a renowned Punjabi scholar who passed away recently. Aujla had written extensively about the heroes of the Indian liberation movement.
Pictures related to the history of the Jallianwala Bagh episode were also displayed on the occasion.
The speakers were unanimous in their demand for rolling back controversial farm legislations in India, the scrapping of anti-democratic laws, and an unconditional release of political prisoners fighting against the policies of the current right wing Hindu nationalist government in New Delhi.
They raised slogans in support of the agitating farmers and those jailed for questioning the Indian state.
Among those who addressed the gathering were Mehak Punjab Di TV host Kamaljit Singh Thind, Prof. Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation leader Sahib Singh Thind, prominent social justice activist Imtiaz Popat, community activist Amritpal Singh Gill, a well-known broadcaster Gurvinder Singh Dhaliwal, and the director of Radical Desi publications, Gurpreet Singh.
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