The reporter here stood up against the despicable act of tearing and disregarding the tricolour by Pakist supporters during a recent protest outside the Indian High Commission on the Independence Day.
The incident occurred on Thursday during anti-Indian protests that had otherwise already witnessed scenes of Pakist side throwing eggs and stones on Indian diaspora. At one point, a young Khalist supporter sneaked into where the Indians stood, grabbed an Indian flag, threw it over to the Pakistan side and returned to his cohorts.
Video from the scene of the incident shows a Pakist man mutilating the flag and challenging the Indians to retrieve it. While the police officers turned a deaf ear to the Indians who brought the desecration of the flag to their attention, the reporter crossed to the Pakist side, snatched the flag from the hands of the man and brought it back.
"Even though I was there as a journalist, I couldn't withstand what was taking place and really hurt my pride. As I was standing outside the police cordon, I instinctively ran over to the Pakist side, grabbed the first part of the flag off the floor and the second part from the other man's hands. This earned a reprimand from the police who ordered me behind the barriers, which I refused to do," said journalist Poonam Joshi."I have covered many, many protests in the past but have never seen anything uglier or intimidating," she added.
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The Independence Day celebrations by the Indian diaspora in London on Thursday were disrupted by Pakistan-backed protestors and pro-Khalist elements, who pelted stones and eggs on the embassy building and Indians gathered outside.
London police have arrested four people in this connection. Police have also confiscated a footlong dagger from one of the protesters.
The protests were orgsed against the Indian government's move to revoke Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
( With inputs from ANI )