Harmit Singh, 28, was stopped by the police and subsequently detained for around an hour because he was said to have come too close to the entrance of the US embassy.
PSM secretary-general A Sivarajan, who witnessed the arrest, said Harmit approached the embassy just to inform them of the group’s intention to hand over a memorandum.
“We had notified the police and the US embassy about today’s protest. But when Harmit approached the embassy, he was stopped because police claimed that protests had been held further from the embassy all this while.
“However, Harmit responded that the main reason for the gathering was to hand over a memorandum to the embassy, not (just) to protest. As he was the first from the crowd to walk further to the embassy, the police stopped him and arrested him,” Sivarajan said.
The police later released Harmit after the organiser, GegarAmerika submitted its memorandum peacefully to the embassy’s representative.
The demonstration organised by the NGO was attended by around 60 protesters who held up Palestinian flags and chanted “Free Palestine” throughout the event.
According to the organiser, the memorandum called for the United States to push for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, to stop selling weapons to Israel, and to “end Israeli impunity”.
GegarAmerika also accused the US of perpetuating imperialism and causing suffering in the global south – an umbrella term for developing or third-world countries – and Palestine.
“The US has fostered a system that profits from the dispossessed and disenfranchised in the global south through its manipulation of global institutions, the English-language media, and the capital market,” the memorandum read.
The memorandum was endorsed by PSM, Muda, Pemuda Sosialis, Bersih, Suaram, and several youth and university groups.
Last year, the US embassy was “blockaded” for six days by Sekretariat Solidariti Palestin from Dec 26-31. The mass protest was held to pressure the US over the conflict in the Middle East and was joined by local politicians and NGOs.
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