Following the recent attacks on women in a Mangalore pub and the suicide of a teenage girl after being humiliated by the moral police in the same city, Valentine’s Day has come to symbolise protest than a moment of love.

On the occasion, nearly 50 people from different walks of life from the age group of 18 to 70 got together in Gossip Bar, a pub on EM Bypass, on Saturday afternoon to protest against the attacks.

“People have enough of moral policing. We assembled in the pub as a form of symbolic protest,” said Anuradha Kapur, a private sector professional.

Shashi Kapur (69) said: “People are committing crimes in the pretext of Hindutva. In the name of Ram Sena they are beating up women.”

Most of the men and women present in the pub said normally they would not drink on a Saturday afternoon but they made an exception for today to celebrate the day of love.

Although Kolkata has never witnessed any moral policing, yet the protestors said one could never be sure which city the activists would target next.

Pramita, a first-year English honours student of Jadavpur University, said, “This protest is to show that no one can dictate us how to lead our lives.”

“My daughter stays in Bangalore and after a hard week in office loves to visit pubs. I called her up and asked her to go out even more as a form of protest,” said Capt S Wahab.