Thoothukudi firing: Activists take out protest march in Bengaluru

50 of us activists and professionals gathered near the War Memorial in Residency Road, Bangalore holding a vigil for the recent killings in Gaza and Thoothukudi on Friday. They engaged with the evening commuters, sharing with them pamphlets and discussing the growing security cooperation between India and Israel, and how corporates have to be stopped from profiteering off crimes against people and environment.

The vigil marked the first event in India as part of the global campaign to Boycott HP till it ends its ties with Israel, which as recently been launched in India. The vigil reiterated the demand to shut down Vedanta's Sterlite plant in Thoothukudi permanently.

In Thoothukudi, citizens protesting against Vedanta's copper smelting plant, Sterlite Copper, were shot by police snipers which led to 13 deaths.

This bears similarity to the Israeli method of repression which we saw most recently in Gaza where over 60 people were killed and thousands injured on 14th May. The similarities between the two contexts go beyond only imagery, a release said.

Indian home ministry has been entering into security cooperation agreements with Israel.

Police brutality is not new to India, but it is now being given the edge of the Israeli techniques that occupy, segregate and colonize Palestinians. These co-operations also provide legitimacy to Israeli state violence. Further, the similarities also exist at the level of state-corporate nexus. While Tamil Nadu state police shot and killed civilians protesting the damage and degradation brought forth by Vedanta, Hewlett and Packard companies are the backbone of Israel's illegal occupations, apartheid and colonization of Palestinians, the release further stated.

This only makes urgent sustained efforts by us to end the ties of complicity between India and Israel, which are as well sustained by and serve corporate impunity.