Delhi police and the Rapid Action Force detained two busloads of protesters who came for a “Citizens' Vigil” here on Monday against Israel’s offensive on Gaza.

Permission for the meeting had been denied to the organisers — CPIML Liberation’s All India Students’ Association — on security grounds.

Around 100 members of Leftist student groups, trade unions, and human rights forums turned up on Monday afternoon despite the denial of permission. The police attempted to herd them into buses in the lane behind the Patel Chowk Metro parking, but protesters refused to get in and started sloganeering. They were then pushed into buses.

The police chased students who tried to slip away towards the Metro station. One woman began a heated exchange with TV reporters who asked her about supporting Palestine despite the Prime Minister’s support for Israel.

Seeing this, the police rushed into the parking lot and began to drag her away until she fell and refused to get up. Then Delhi University assistant professor Saroj Giri stepped in.

“You have prevented the protest and taken away the protesters. Why chase her to the Metro station?” he asked the officers present. Giri continued to argue despite being asked to step away. “She is my student and she has done nothing wrong,” he said. Finally, both the woman and Giri were taken away by the police.

“The way they have cracked down is unprecedented,” Giri told The Telegraph over the phone from the police bus. “It is obvious that (PM) Modi is trying hard to please Israel. There is a lot of support for Palestine in India but no platform to express it. No one is trying to condone Hamas killing civilians. We need more such protests to raise awareness about what is happening in Palestine.”

All the detainees were released from Jafarpur police station in southwest Delhi on Monday evening.

The demands of the protesters were to stop the war, and for the independence of Palestine — in line with India’s stated position of supporting talks for a viable solution towards two sovereign states of Palestine and Israel. However, the police have cracked down on solidarity with Palestine after the Prime Minister expressed support for Israel in the aftermath of incursions into the country by Hamas that claimed the lives of several people including non-combatants.

While Uttar Pradesh police have arrested people even for expressing solidarity with Palestine on social media, Delhi police have prevented protests — like the one on Monday and another one by Jamia Millia Islamia students last week. On Saturday, the police did not prevent a demonstration by the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation although they warned the participants to leave soon.

Educationist Rohit Kumar, who protested on Saturday, told this newspaper: “It is a natural progression of what has happened in the last decade. The word “secularism” was demonised. There are Jewish rabbis putting out videos from Israel saying they are appalled at the way Israel is conducting this war. But in India, people get hot under the collar if you question Israel. This is because of ignorance, propaganda and misinformation.”

He added: “Some of us grew up seeing our Prime Ministers, right from Nehru’s time, as leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement and opposing apartheid in South Africa and Israel with leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu, and Fidel Castro.”

Several Opposition leaders and activists met Palestinian ambassador Adnan Abu Alhaija on Monday. The leaders included RJD MP Manoj K. Jha, CPI general secretary D. Raja, CPIML Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, the CPM’s Subhashini Ali and Nilotpal Basu, Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali Khan, the JDU's K.C. Tyagi, BSP MP Danish Ali and Nadeem Khan, secretary, the Association for Protection of Civil Rights.

The leaders, including Congress’s Mani Shankar Aiyar who was not present, issued a statement: “We call for intensified diplomatic efforts and multilateral initiatives to ensure a lasting peace in the region. We express our deep concern regarding the ongoing crisis in Gaza and the suffering of the Palestinian people. We strongly condemn the indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel, which we believe amounts to an attempt (at) genocide. We urge an immediate cessation of all hostilities to prevent further loss of innocent lives and the destruction of homes and infrastructure.”

They called for the immediate passage of humanitarian aid.

In the statement, they also referred to Mahatma Gandhi, who had said: "Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French."

"This reflects Gandhi's belief in the importance of recognising the sovereignty and territorial rights of the Palestinian people, just as any other nation's right to their homeland,” the statement said.