4 detained for displaying Palestinian flags during Pak-Bangladesh match in Kolkata

Kolkata: Four people were detained for waving Palestinian flags during the Pakistan-Bangladesh World Cup cricket match at Eden Gardens stadium on Tuesday evening.

According to city police, they were taken away from the stadium in anticipation that their actions might create tension during the crucial match.

"We have detained two of them for waving the Palestinian flag near gate number 6 and the other two at Block G1," an IPS officer said.

Two of them are residents of Jharkhand, while the other two are from Kolkata's Ekbalpore and neighbouring Howrah, the senior police officer said.

The four were detained by law enforcers from Maidan police station and they were being questioned, he added.

"Policemen posted there at first could not understand what the protesters were up to. Then they waved the flag of Palestine and were detained. They, however, did not raise any slogan," he elaborated.

Sources in the Kolkata Police said that the initial probe found out that the four people, who are in their mid-twenties, were protesting the ongoing Israel-Palestine war in Gaza.

With inputs from agencies

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