Free Palestine: Slogans at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan demand end to Gaza Genocide 

Hundreds of people gathered at Azad Maidan on Wednesday (August 20, 2025) for a massive public meeting demanding an immediate halt to what organizers called the “genocide” in Gaza. The demonstration, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], saw participation from several political parties, human rights groups, journalists, artists, and students, coming together to express solidarity with the Palestinian people. 

The protest followed weeks of legal wrangling after the Mumbai Police repeatedly denied permission to hold the gathering at Azad Maidan. The CPI(M) and other petitioners approached the Bombay High Court, seeking approval to stage the protest. Initially, the court came down heavily on the petitioners, observing that they should “look at the challenges in their own country first.” However, after several hearings, the court took note of the citizens’ constitutional right to peaceful assembly and directed the police to permit the meeting, provided law and order was maintained. 

Speakers at the event accused Israel of committing war crimes and attempting to permanently control Gaza, citing findings from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s defense minister. 

Veteran journalist P. Sainath, filmmaker Saeed Mirza, actress Swara Bhaskar, and several social activists addressed the gathering, urging global action to end the humanitarian crisis. 

Participants carried placards reading: Free Palestine, Stop the Genocide, Babies Are Not Collateral Damage, India Stands for Peace, What Happened to America on 9/11 Happens in Palestine 24/7. A woman was seen holding a placard in one hand that read, ‘What If These Children Were Yours?’ and holding an effigy of a baby wrapped in white cloth smeared with red stains representing blood.  

The meeting saw widespread participation from students, teachers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, artists, trade union leaders, and common citizens. Organisers said the protest marked a unified stand against the “relentless bombing, starvation, and displacement” in Gaza and called for stronger international intervention. 

CPI(M) leader Shailendra Kamble linked the situation in Gaza to wider global geopolitics, accusing American imperialism of enabling Israeli actions through continued military and financial support. “The sustained international pressure necessary to bring an end to the relentless bombing, starvation, and displacement of Palestinian civilians.”