The Indian metropolis of Bangalore banned protests round faculties and different academic establishments for 2 weeks on Wednesday.
The transfer comes simply 24 hours after all excessive faculties in Karnataka state closed their gates for the rest of the week as a row over an Islamic scarf ban intensified.
The southern Indian state, of which Bangalore is the capital, closed all academic establishments for 3 days starting Wednesday, as protests and violence escalated over the choice of some faculties to ban feminine college students from carrying the hijab or a headband in school rooms.
On Tuesday, clashes between Muslim college students in opposition to the ban and people supporting it broke out. Stone-throwing, arson and baton prices by police passed off in a number of cities in Karnataka state, NDTV information channel reported.
The debate in southern India is raging over whether or not the federal government can implement such a ban. Authorized motion, in addition to offended protests, has been threatened in opposition to the native authorities.
‘Horrifying’ hijab ban, says distinguished activist
Outrage on the ban has spilled over onto social media, with Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai tweeting her assist for the younger ladies’s proper to put on the hijab.
“Faculty is forcing us to decide on between research and the hijab,” she mentioned. “Refusing to let ladies go to high school of their hijabs is horrifying. Objectification of girls persists — for carrying much less or extra. Indian leaders should cease the marginalization of Muslim ladies.”
Footage has gone viral of 1 hijab-wearing pupil being pursued by Hindu males shouting “Jai Shri Ram” (Hail Lord Ram) as she arrives at PES Faculty within the metropolis of Mandya, round 100 kilometers (round 60 miles) southeast of Bangalore.
Activists, in addition to many from India’s 200 million-member minority Muslim neighborhood, say hate crimes in opposition to Muslims have elevated since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Social gathering got here to energy in 2014.
jsi/sms (AFP, Reuters, dpa)