Bengaluru: Culture fest to bring Africans closer

BENGALURU: The East division police, along with the North East, division are planning a cultural fest soon to create awareness about the culture of the African nationals in the city. Their aim: to reduce the animosity between the Africans and the locals in Bengaluru. This plan comes in the wake of a 23-year-old BCA student being assaulted and his car vandalized by a dozen locals in Kamanahalli on September 12 during a road rage incident.

After a few episodes where Africans were attacked in the city this year, the police had conducted peace meetings and African students’ association coordination meetings, etc. which didn’t yield much results.  Now the cops are working on finding sponsors for an event that would bring the Africans and the locals together and throw light on their cultural differences, a senior police officer said.

There will be African food served at the fest, followed by entertainment programs, and locals will be invited to attend. The latter will include house-owners who rent out their houses to Africans, in addition to auto drivers, paanwallas, shopkeepers, hotel owners, hotel staff, and others in the area who interact directly with the Africans on a daily basis, the senior police officer said. The police will then explain to the locals about the African lifestyle, mannerisms and habits and vice-versa. The Africans will be educated about what the locals expect of them here, he added.

For the police, there are only two categories of people, one law-abiding and the other law-breaking – Africans or locals, the law-breakers will be taken to task. Incidents of crime arising out of prejudice or animosity can be brought down when both accept each other the way they are, but unfortunately, friction exists between the two because one group considers themselves locals and the other, outsiders. Moreover, the Africans interact with people from ground level like auto drivers, pan wallas and hotel staffers, so sometimes, their tolerance level is low, triggering such incidents, said the officer.

From what we gather, the locals are not appeased by the way Africans interact or behave with them. Locals from Hennur, Banaswadi, and Kamanahalli often feel offended with the way Africans interact with them. In certain unreported cases, traffic policemen were at the receiving end of African nationals who tend to turn violent when questioned for their driving licence or vehicle documents, said the senior police officer. These kind of incidents send an alarming message to the public about their tendency to violence even towards the cops, which is disturbing, the officer added.

Recent incidents

• March 11, 2015: Four African nationals were allegedly attacked by a mob at Byrathi in Bengaluru, after residents were reportedly annoyed with them for creating a nuisance in the locality.
• August 28, 2015: Three locals attacked an African student in Hennur, Pisse Hotto, who objected  to a shopkeeper telling him there were no cigarettes, even as he sold them to locals. Six Nigerian girls were arrested by cops for allegedly assaulting a BMTC driver and conductor over the driver of the bus not stopping the bus at the spot where they had to alight to go to church.
• September 22, 2014:  A 23-year-old African student, Amar Khuresh, was assaulted by two bike-borne men who slashed Amar’s neck with a blade after he refused to give the cigarettes that the duo demanded.