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A pro-Palestine mime in a school art festival, which was stopped midway due to its violation of school youth festival guidelines, was reperformed on Monday, October 6. This time, the students performed without any political symbols or slogans. The incident occurred at Kumbala Government Higher Secondary School in Kasaragod, and this time, the mime won the first prize in the Higher Secondary category.
On October 3, a group of six students performed a pro-Palestine mime using keffiyehs, slogans, and other props. A few teachers entered the stage midway through the mime and closed the curtains. The teachers stopped the mime, claiming that using slogans, placards, and other props breached the art festival guidelines. According to reports, festival rules prohibit using political props while allowing political themes. The youth festival was partially cancelled that day.
“We need to know what's wrong with raising the flag for Palestine. We practised a lot to perform, but the teachers closed the curtain when we used a prop of a deceased child. We are not supporting any country or based on religion. We did this after seeing the child dying there,” one of the students who performed the mime told the media on October 3.
Meanwhile, another student said the teachers knew about the subject of their mime earlier, and they didn’t raise the Palestine flag during the performance. “We raised the flag as a protest when the teachers closed the curtain,” another student said.
Minister of General Education V Sivankutty has asked the Director of General Education to submit an inquiry report on the incident. Through a Facebook post, he also assured the students they would have the opportunity to perform again.
On Monday, the students avoided the usage of keffiyehs and other props and reperformed the mime.
Meanwhile, the members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) conducted a protest march to the school over the pro-Palestine mime. “We don’t have any objection to a mime performance, but they cannot raise the Palestine flag. This is anti-national,” one BJP member told the media.