FWCC Coordinator Shamima Ali

The head of the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre says government’s revoking of the march permit for a group of students calling for an end to what it calls the ‘genocide’ in the Gaza Strip as ‘unacceptable and disgraceful’.

FWCC Coordinator Shamima Ali says the students were not marching for militant group Hamas, so Home Affairs Minister Pio Tikoduadua should stop misleading the people.

She was referring to Tikoduadua’s statement earlier yesterday that the Fiji Police Force denied the permit application, on the grounds that it is a matter of national security, given the divisive nature of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Ali says it is a violation of people’s right to freedom of expression, assembly and participation in global movements.

She raises concerns on if the Police should investigate violence-inciting posts and hatred speech, rather than stopping people from publicly calling for a ceasefire.

Ali says the government must put an end to the fundamentalist rhetoric and fear-mongering and remind the people that Fiji is a secular state, with a long history of religious freedom.