Almost a week after the cold blooded murder of senior journalist Gauri Lankesh at her home in Bengaluru, thousands took the streets on Tuesday for the "I Am Gauri" rally, seeking justice for her murder.
News18 reports that the march began from the Bengaluru Railway Station and ended at the Central College grounds.
Participants, including journalist P Sainath, addressed the rally at the Central College grounds.
The News18 report said the protesters also released a special edition of the Gauri Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada tabloid that Lankesh used to edit.
Lankesh's murder was harshly condemned by journalists and the general public alike, and was seen as the silencing of a person who stood for freedom of speech and was not afraid to take on the established authority.
Videos and photos from the rally show a sea of protesters carrying posters that read "I am Gauri" or "We are all Gauri". While some chanted slogans, others participated silently. Some also sported black bands as a mark of protest.
The progressive forum "Gauri Lankesh Hatya Virodhi Vedike" arranged the protest rally, reported the IANS.
It quoted forum convenor K. Leela as saying, "The forum of progressive thinkers, writers, social activists, artistes and intellectuals was formed last Friday to fight against Lankesh killing and decided to hold the national-level 'resistance convention' here."
The report said CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, noted social activist Medha Patkar, journalists P. Sainath and Sagarika Ghose, Swaraj India leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, documentary producers Anand Patwardhan and Rakesh Sharma, and civil rights activists Teesta Setalvad, Kavitha Krishnan and Jignesh Mevani, besides film producer Praksah Rai participated in the event.
IANS also reported that members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Karnataka Janashakthi, Aam Aadmi Party and several student groups were also part of the rally.
Lankesh was murdered on the night of September 5 by three unidentified bike-borne assailants in Bengaluru.
Lankesh, the daughter poet and journalist P Lankesh, used the Gauri Lankesh Patrike, that was started by her father, to write against the divisive politics of the right-wing.
Lankesh had found herself in trouble for her writing and was charged in guilty in 2016 in a defamation case filed by two BJP leaders.