{"id":175796,"date":"2023-05-22T10:39:48","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T10:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=175796"},"modified":"2023-05-22T10:39:48","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T10:39:48","slug":"muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim activists storm cinema screening of &apos;The Kerala Story&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Moment Muslim activists storm Birmingham cinema screening of Bollywood film &#8216;The Kerala Story&#8217; that has sparked violent clashes in India over claims it &#8216;destroys religious harmony&#8217; and is Islamophobic<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Opponents say the film is Hindu nationalist &#8216;propaganda&#8217; and Islamophobic<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is the moment Muslim activists storm a screening of a controversial Bollywood film that has sparked violent clashes in India amid claims it\u00a0destroys &#8216;religious harmony&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>A group of protesters led by Shakeel Afsar, a Kashmiri independence activist, disrupted the screening of the The Kerala Story on Friday at a Cineworld cinema in Birmingham.<\/p>\n<p>A 10-minute film uploaded to the British Muslim news website 5Pillars showed Mr Afsar, 35, with a group of demonstrators seen entering the cinema and causing the film to be paused.<\/p>\n<p>In it, Mr Afsar along with at least two others ask to speak to the cinema manager about the &#8216;Islamophobic&#8217; nature of the film.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He says: &#8216;This film is lies.\u00a0This film is made to divide us. We have lived together for many years&#8230; Narendra Modi [the prime minister of India] has endorsed this film.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=qz6iZ9YLMeI%3Frel%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26hl%3Den-US<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/05\/22\/10\/71262519-12110263-image-a-4_1684748182668.jpg\" height=\"301\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Demonstrators stormed a screening of The Kerala Story in Birmingham on Friday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/05\/22\/10\/71262527-12110263-image-a-5_1684748186647.jpg\" height=\"483\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Audience members and activists clashed after the screening was disrupted on Friday, amid claims it is Islamophobic<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/05\/22\/10\/71262521-12110263-image-a-6_1684748190776.jpg\" height=\"304\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Security are also seen getting involved and a theatre attendant tells the audience: &#8216;If you&#8217;re not going to be quiet, we are not going to stop this film again.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/05\/22\/10\/71262695-12110263-image-a-25_1684748387765.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>In India, the film has proved highly controversial. People seen demonstrating against the film in Chennai, India, earlier this month<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;An extremist has endorsed this film. We will not allow it.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Staff at the Cineworld were forced to pause the screening as mayhem broke out, with audience members seen confronting the activists and telling them to leave.<\/p>\n<h3>Why is The Kerala Story causing controversy?\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p>Bollywood movie The Kerala Story depicts Hindu and Christian women lured to join the Islamic State (ISIS).<\/p>\n<p>However the fictional drama has caused outrage in India, with some rejecting its claim that &#8216;more than 30,000 women have disappeared after being recruited by ISIS&#8217; in the southern Indian state.<\/p>\n<p>The film has been promoted by India&#8217;s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) including in tweets by India&#8217;s prime minister Narendra Modi &#8211; who praised the film and said it attempted to &#8216;expose the consequences of terrorism in a society&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>But opponents say the film is Hindu nationalist &#8216;propaganda&#8217; and have accused it of perpetuating Islamophobia.<\/p>\n<p>Others have debunked its claim in the trailer that 32,000 women have been recruited, saying it is baseless and inaccurate &#8211; it was later removed from the film.<\/p>\n<p>In India, it has proved highly controversial &#8211; with the state of West Bengal banning it from cinemas, while\u00a0 two BJP-ruled states Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh cut the price of tickets to see it.<\/p>\n<p>Violent clashes over the film have proved deadly after a 40-year-old man\u00a0 person died in Maharashtra.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The two rival sides are said to have pelted each other with stones and destroying cars, according to officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Security are also seen getting involved and after the activists are ejected, a theatre attendant tells the audience: &#8216;If you&#8217;re not going to be quiet, we are not going to stop this film again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;If you want to watch this film you should calm down first. I am going to resume this film.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We&#8217;re trying to deal with this in the best way we can. We&#8217;ve paused the film, we&#8217;ve turned the lights on, we&#8217;ve called the police.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The activists claim that the film, which tells the story of Hindu and Christian women recruited by ISIS in the southern Indian state of Kerala, is a propaganda film from India\u2019s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation, The\u00a0Times\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n<p>In India, the film has been promoted by\u00a0 the BJP including in tweets by India&#8217;s prime minister Narendra Modi, who praised the film and said it attempted to &#8216;expose the consequences of terrorism in a society&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Critics say the fictional drama &#8211; which claims in its trailer that 32,000 women in Kerala have disappeared after being recruited by ISIS &#8211; is &#8216;unsubstantiated and exaggerated&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Alt News, an Indian factchecking website, claimed it found &#8216;no evidence&#8217; to support these figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After provoking outrage, filmmakers agreed to remove the trailer but said the movie is based on true events and years of research.<\/p>\n<p>In the Indian state of Kerala, politicians have called for the film to be banned, who say it demonises Muslims and is Islamophobic.<\/p>\n<p>Last year Mr Afstar, an entrepreneur and property developer, led a campaign to pull The Lady of Heaven from cinemas.<\/p>\n<p>He was banned from protesting outside a primary school in Birmingham in 2019 after demonstrating against the teaching of LGBT values.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The film was released on May 12.\u00a0MailOnline has contacted Cineworld for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12110263\/Moment-Muslim-activists-storm-Birmingham-cinema-screening-Bollywood-film-Kerala-Story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moment Muslim activists storm Birmingham cinema screening<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":175795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23056],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Muslim activists storm cinema screening of &amp;apos;The Kerala Story&amp;apos; - Pre Coin News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Muslim activists storm cinema screening of &amp;apos;The Kerala Story&amp;apos; - Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Moment Muslim activists storm Birmingham cinema screening\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-22T10:39:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-The-Kerala-Story.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/\",\"name\":\"Muslim activists storm cinema screening of &apos;The Kerala Story&apos; - Pre Coin News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-22T10:39:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-22T10:39:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"World News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/category\/world-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Muslim activists storm cinema screening of &apos;The Kerala Story&apos;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/\",\"name\":\"Pre Coin News\",\"description\":\"precoinnews.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a\",\"name\":\"mediabest\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5f13cb3b94fc348d515c0951f6ca073?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5f13cb3b94fc348d515c0951f6ca073?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mediabest\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Muslim activists storm cinema screening of &apos;The Kerala Story&apos; - Pre Coin News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Muslim activists storm cinema screening of &apos;The Kerala Story&apos; - Pre Coin News","og_description":"Moment Muslim activists storm Birmingham cinema screening","og_url":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/","og_site_name":"Pre Coin News","article_published_time":"2023-05-22T10:39:48+00:00","author":"mediabest","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-The-Kerala-Story.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mediabest","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/","url":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/","name":"Muslim activists storm cinema screening of &apos;The Kerala Story&apos; - Pre Coin News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-05-22T10:39:48+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-22T10:39:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/muslim-activists-storm-cinema-screening-of-the-kerala-story\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"World News","item":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/category\/world-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Muslim activists storm cinema screening of &apos;The Kerala Story&apos;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/","name":"Pre Coin News","description":"precoinnews.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ad0e9920e03d3b41c7ad02a18375d76a","name":"mediabest","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5f13cb3b94fc348d515c0951f6ca073?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f5f13cb3b94fc348d515c0951f6ca073?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mediabest"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}