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A school principal in Kerala stopped a group of students’ Kolkali performance after they wore pro-Palestine T-shirts on stage. The incident occurred at Anjarakandy Higher Secondary School in Kannur on Saturday, September 27, during the school’s youth festival.
According to the principal, the students violated the festival manual. However, it has not been specified which rules were violated.
Traditionally, performers wear a mundu, a white vest, and a head cloth while performing Kolkali, a centuries-old folk art from the north Malabar region in which dancers move in a circle with sticks, striking them in rhythm with music. The students instead wore black T-shirts printed with the words “Free Palestine.”
A video of the incident being circulated on social media shows the principal walking on stage and halting the performance, after which the curtains were drawn.
According to media reports, the school is an aided institution run by a society controlled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Following the incident, the Kerala Students Union (KSU), student wing of the Congress, and the Muslim Students Federation (MSF), student wing of the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala, staged protest marches to the school against the principal’s action.
This is not the first time when students performed Kolkali in solidarity with Palestine. Earlier in January, students of Government Vocational Higher Secondary School Chirakkara (GVHSS) in Kannur performed the dance blindfolded to the song "Vazhka Palestine" (Live long Palestine) at the 63rd Kerala School Kalolsavam, in solidarity with Palestinians.