Kerala: 'Kiss of Love' protest will happen tomorrow, insist organisers

Kochi:  A day after Kerala High Court refused to intervene, the organisers of controversial 'Kiss of Love' protest today said they would go ahead, even as they were yet to get permission from the police.

Stressing that it was "not a kiss fest" but a gathering of like minded people to raise awareness against moral policing, they said they would next focus on creating awareness about AIDS.
'Free Thinkers', a group of social networking website Facebook users, is organising the programme tomorrow at the Marine drive grounds to protest against moral policing. The organisers expect about 700-1000 people would participate.

"There is no question of backtracking. The protest will be held as scheduled at 5 PM at the venue with participants holding placards," Rahul Pasupalan, IT professional and short film maker and Jijo Kuriakose, a researcher and members of 'Free Thinkers', a Facebook group told reporters in Kochi.

On Friday, the organisers had received a shot in the arm with the Kerala High Court refusing to interfere with the event after the state government assured action would be taken in the event of any illegal activities.Two petitions seeking to prohibit the event was disposed by the court recording the government's submission.

"This is not a kiss fest. It is a gathering of like minded people to protest against moral policing. We are independent thinkers and this is a gathering of the Facebook users," they said, adding young and old couple, parents and youngsters were all welcome to participate in the event, which is a platform to protest against moral policing.

Rahul said though they approached police four days back with a request for permission to conduct the event, they were yet to receive any intimation allowing or denying permission. Pointing out that kissing and hugging was only a form of agitation they had chosen to raise awareness against moral policing, Rahul said it was precisely due to the novel form of protest they had adopted that so much heat had been generated.

"Isn't everyone talking about the event?" he asked. "Because we selected this form of protest, everyone is discussing it. We want to create an awareness against moral policing," they said.
Jijo Kuriakose said the group would next focus their attention on creating awareness about AIDS.