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Pictures of Macron appear on two streets of Pune
The photos have been perceived as a form of protest against the comments made by French president.
Photos of French president Emanuel Macron were found stuck on roads in two areas in Pune. The photos have been perceived as a form of protest against the tensions between France and Turkey and comments made by Macron.
The tensions between the two countries had escalated after a French school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded on October 16 for showing caricatures of Prophet Mohammad made by a publication called Charlie Hebdo. In January 2015, a shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo had left 17 people dead. Subsequently, three people were stabbed to death in a church in Nice on Thursday.
In the first instance that came to light on the day of Eid, October 30, the pictures were stuck when the residents of Ghorpade peth went to offer Namaz in the afternoon.
“When we came out for the first time that day, it was all normal. Then, we went to offer Namaz and came back and saw the pictures stuck throughout the road stretch. We did not think much about it. The police came and cleaned it,” said a 67-year-old man whose house overlooks the street where at least 50 pictures of Macron covered the street.
The same series of events was repeated by the owner of a pharmacy and of a paan stall which overlooks the street between Ghorpade peth police outpost and a local mosque. Nobody wanted to be named in the story and did not wish to name the people who did the deed. However, the police found three people and served them notices under Section 151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The three have been identified as Shoaib Salim Shaikh (32), Arbaz Shakal Shaikh (26), and Zunaid Suleiman Momin (20), all residents of Ghorpade peth. The remnants of the pictures could be clearly seen even on Sunday when another street was covered in the Macron’s pictures in A4 size paper printouts.
This time, the pictures appeared on a street in Parvati Paytha area of Dattawadi at night. While the people of Ghorpade peth were aware of who had stuck the pictures, the people in Parvati Paytha appeared unaware of who the perpetrators were.
“I close at around 10pm and open again at 9am. Even till 3-4am, I know there was nothing there. When I came in the morning, however, the photos were stuck to the road. The people called the police on patrol and they tried to pull them off,” said Azar Memon, a paan shop owner in the vicinity
“I’m working in place of my brother. I shut shop at 9pm and open at 8am. When I left there was nothing, and when I opened this morning people had gathered. People came to took pictures. I went by my work and did not pay much attention to the incident,” said a butcher at Aamir chicken shop located on the spot.
Police sub inspector Arjun Naikawadi remained clueless about the pictures on the spot which is barely 400 metres from the police outpost. However, outgoing police station in-charge police inspector Devidas Gheware said, “Yes, there was information of the incident. I have relinquished charge of the police station, but was in the area for a medical camp. Policemen on the night shift went and checked it out and the locals there cleared it.”
As the pictures have disappeared and a police station in-charge is absent, the stand of the local police remained unknown.
“Everybody has the right of expressing their outrage and it should be expressed on the right platform too. Nobody can tolerate the disrespect of their saints. People have taken to the streets for such behaviour before as well. This should not affect the Indian people. In fact, like Muslims have supported protests against insult of Jija Mata, people of other communities should actively support these protests of Muslims. The only measure undertaken should be to ensure that nobody is inconvenienced by any of these protests,” said Anjum Inamdar, president of Mool Niwasi Muslim Manch, Pune.
