A plane carrying a “Free Kashmir, 2,500 days occupied” banner was spotted during a football match on Sunday between Crystal Palace and Manchester United at the Old Trafford football stadium in Manchester, England.
A plane just flew over Trafford, Manchester, with a banner saying #FreeKashmir during #CrystalPalace vs #ManchesterUnited match pic.twitter.com/YPUuJAFv5u
— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) December 5, 2021
So far, no one has claimed responsibility for this incident that caught everyone’s attention.
It was the first such incident this year and third overall in the UK. Similar banners, calling for India to stop the genocide in Kashmir and end its occupation, had flown over the Leeds cricket stadium during the 2019 World Cup.
“We are incredibly disappointed this has happened again. We do not condone any sort of political messages at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup,” the International Cricket Council had said in a press release following the second incident.
Throughout the tournament, we have worked with local police forces around the country to prevent this type of protest from occurring. After the previous incident, we were assured by West Yorkshire Police that there would not be a repeat of this issue, so we are very dissatisfied it has happened again.
Following the incident, the UK authorities declared Old Trafford stadium — which was to host India’s semifinal clash against New Zealand —a “No Fly Zone.”
The incessant brutality of Indian forces has claimed more than 70,000 innocent lives in Indian-occupied Kashmir over the past thirty years. The people of Kashmir have been protesting for their mandated right to freedom, as per the resolution of the UNSC.
