India wants African students – but they are learning that rampant prejudice awaits
- A clash between students and authorities in Bengaluru last month is just the latest in a series of attacks on and alleged police brutality towards African nationals
- African students in India say they face regular discrimination and harassment, and take-ups of government scholarships are declining
A Congolese man had died in police custody in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, and his fellow students could not rest until they found out what had happened. So they gathered, two dozen of them, on August 2 at a police station in the JC Nagar neighbourhood, for a peaceful protest that saw them block traffic and chant Black Lives Matter slogans.
And that’s when the scuffle broke out. Police officers clashed with the students, five of whom were arrested while at least six others were injured.
Alikali Simwange was there that day, and narrowly escaped a beating. The 24-year-old from Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who is studying for an MBA, told This Week in Asia the police response was unnecessary and created fear among the protesters.
“We wanted to see the body to check if there were any marks of physical abuse, but the police instead told us to disperse in five minutes,” he said. “I tried to persuade my fellow students to leave but since everyone was very emotional they refused. Then all of a sudden the policemen started to beat up everyone.”
According to the Bengaluru police, computer science student Joel Shindani Malu, 27, was arrested on suspicion of possession of banned Ecstasy pills and kept in detention because his student visa had expired, only to die of cardiac arrest. The protesters refute that claim, and have also accused the authorities of falsely detaining Malu. Police officials refused to respond to requests for comment.