Muslim activists storm Birmingham cinema screening ‘The Kerala Story’

BIRMINGHAM — Muslim activists in Birmingham stormed a screening of the controversial Bollywood film ‘The Kerala Story’, which has sparked a row in India amid claims that it destroys ‘religious harmony’, media reports said.

A group of protesters led by Shakeel Afsar, a Kashmiri activist, disrupted the screening of ‘The Kerala Story’ on Friday at a Cineworld theatre in Birmingham, Daily Mail reported.

A 10-minute clip uploaded on the British Muslim news website ‘5Pillars’ showed Afsar, 35, with a group of demonstrators entering the cinema and causing the film to be paused.

In the clip, Afsar along with at least two others ask to speak to the cinema manager about the ‘Islamophobic’ nature of the film.

The 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, Daily Mail reported.

After the activists were ejected by the security personnel, a theatre attendant could be heard telling the audience: “If you want to watch this film, you should calm down first. I am going to resume this film. We’re trying to deal with this in the best way we can. We’ve paused the film, we’ve turned the lights on, we’ve called the police.”

Last year, Afsar, an entrepreneur and property developer, led a campaign to pull ‘The Lady of Heaven’ from the cinemas.

He was also banned from protesting outside a primary school in Birmingham in 2019 after demonstrating against the teaching of LGBT values, Daily Mail reported.