Organisers of a documentary film festival to be held in London next week to raise funds for the tsunami victims have alleged receiving threats from right-wing Hindu groups which have objected to some of the films saying that they represent only one viewpoint.

The incident comes two weeks after Sikh protesters stormed a theatre in Birmingham forcing it to abandon a play, "Behzti," which depicted sexual abuse in a gurdwara.

A spokesperson for the organisers of the film festival (a group of Asian and British youths) told The Hindu they had been receiving abusive calls and threats to disrupt the festival if it was not cancelled.

"On Thursday, ten young men landed up at our centre in east London and threatened us saying we were projecting only one viewpoint and that there was no such thing as Hindu fundamentalism. They had a list of seven films to which they objected. These included Anand Patwardhan's "In the Name of God" on the demolition of the Babri Masjid and Suma Jasson's film on the Gujarat violence," the spokesperson said. She did not know if they belonged to an organised group or were acting on their own.

Ten films on controversies ranging from religious fundamentalism and caste and gender issues to "resistance" movements among tribals are to be shown at a week-long festival which will also discuss contemporary political themes. "We are an independent multi-racial group and have no agenda," the spokesperson said,
emphasising that it comprised youth from all communities.

The organisers said they were in touch with the police and planned to go ahead with the programme. On Saturday, they received support from the South Asia Solidarity Group (an umbrella organisation of Asian rights activists) which called the alleged threats "appalling."

"These organisations are planning to attempt to stop the festival taking place and we therefore would urge you to show your support for the festival by attending, particularly on the opening night," it said in a statement.

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Re: Press coverage - The Hindu

Just a couple of comments and corrects to the article as printed in the Hindu...

1. "We are an independent multi-racial group and have no agenda"

The person that spoke to the journalist remembers saying specifically that our agenda didn't include anti-hindu or pro-muslim politics and not that we don't have an agenda (which obvious we do).

2. The organisers said they were in touch with the police and planned to go ahead with the programme.

This is not strictly accurate and is missleading. The police contacted us and the decision to go ahead with the festival is unrelated. We have not asked for their attendence and hope that people who care about defending free speech will help to ensure that the festival is not disrupted.

3. "On Thursday, ten young men landed up at our centre in east London and threatened us..."

While their presence may have felt threatening to some, especially after the torrent of threats we have received via the internet, our visitors did not make threats and apart from raised voices and too many people speaking at once, we had a pretty civilised discussion.

Other minor points - there are about 19 films being shown, not ten, and the term spokesperson is a product of journalistic lazyness and does not indicate that such roles exist within either the rampART, Indymedia cinema or others involved in organising the film festival.