KOCHI: This evening, hundreds, mostly youths, will be flocking to breezy Marine Drive here to lock lips with partners of their choice, according to the organisers of the “Kiss Day” protest who on Saturday reiterated that the event would take place despite the vehement opposition and threats from some right-wingers. The event may have united the “like-minded” on social media, but many of them are divided on the mode of protest. Parallel to the kiss fest, a slew of other protests are expected to take place at the same time at Marine Drive on Sunday. Literary critic M Leelavathi and Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany are among the bigwigs expected to join a parallel protest the KSU will be holding. At the eleventh hour, the Mayor has called for banning the event. “Protests like this should be banned. It is a cultural and moral compromise,” he said. “Though I condemn the Yuva Morcha attack on the Kozhikode hotel, I don’t think the culture of public kissing should be encouraged. Such things will not be allowed in Kochi,” said the Mayor. Meanwhile, those behind ‘Kiss Day’ said the event was a symbolic protest against the violation of individual rights. “This is not about kissing in public. The movement is against the violation of rights of a person through violent moral policing,” said 28-year-old Rahul Pasupalan, the aspiring filmmaker who floated the idea of holding a ‘Kiss Day’ protest. Last month, activists of the BJP’s youth wing, Yuva Morcha, vandalised a coffee shop in Kozhikode after a Congress-run TV channel aired a “sting” video showing couples kissing at the cafe.
