Manchester United footballer Paul Pogba flags Karnataka’s hijab protests on social media

Protests in Karnataka over college students being denied the right to wear a hijab was flagged by Manchester United footballer Paul Pogba on Thursday, who shared an Instagram story – “Hindutva mobs continue to harass Muslim girls wearing Hijab to college in India”.

Paul Pogba, a French national whose mother is Muslim and who became practicing Islam in 2019, shared a 58-second reel originally posted by the London-based _islamismydeen_ Instagram handle.

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In the video, a massive crowd of boys and men wearing (or waving) saffron scarves surround a small group of young girls wearing hijabs. The mob, which numbers several dozen male individuals at least, can be heard shouting and chanting as the dust rises from the scuffle.

Meanwhile, other men seem to be holding hands to form a protective barrier around the girls, and there seem to be only two police personnel in sight.

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The clip then shows a young woman, presumably a school teacher, warily unlatching a classroom door after which dozens of boys draped in yet more saffron scarves and cheering storm inside.

However, it is unclear when and where each clip was shot.

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Pogba isn’t the first international figure to draw attention to the hijab protests. On Wednesday Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai said “refusing to let girls attend school in hijabs is horrifying.”

Within the country a storm of voices have been raised in support of (and against) both sides, with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra among those to speak out.

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On Tuesday the situation escalated at a college in Mandya district after male students heckled a Muslim girl, shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. She shouted “Allah hu Akbar” at the aggressors.