Bengaluru/Mysuru: Thousands of activists from various parts of the State and Country held a mammoth protest rally against the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh, here this morning.

The protesters, including writers, journalists, rationalists, who assembled at the Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station, took out a rally till the Central College Grounds, sporting black bands stating ‘I am Gauri’ and demanding for the arrest of those responsible for her killing.

Activists, writers like P. Sainath, Teesta Setalvad, Anand Patwardhan, Kavitha Krishnan, Prashanth Bhushan, Medha Patkar, Megha Pansare and others are expected to address the public rally to be held at the Central College Grounds.

At Mysuru

Similar, protest rally was also held in Mysuru where more than 1,000 people, comprising writers, retired Professors, students of various colleges and others took out a rally condemning the killing of Gauri Lankesh.

The protesters urged the State Government to expedite the probe and arrest the killers. They wanted to handover a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep. As the DC was attending a meeting in Zilla Panchayat, Assistant Commissioner Shivegowda came to receive the memorandum. But the protesters insisted on the Deputy Commissioner to arrive at the spot. Police personnel had a tough time to manage the surging huge crowd. Theatre critic Muddu Krishna, Prof. Kalachanne Gowda, Prof. Vasanthamma, Prof. Sarvamangala, DSS District Convenor Bettaiah Kote, Advocate Sumana and others were present.