Manchester, Birmingham to be no-flying zone after Leeds fiasco

Leeds, July 6 (IANS) A plane carrying the slogan "Justice for Kashmir", followed by another plane with the slogan "India Stop Genocide & Free Kashmir" were seen flying over the Headingley Cricket Ground as India took on Sri Lanka in their final group stage game in the World Cup on Saturday.

It was further followed by another plane which asked people to stop mob lynching in India.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is unhappy and has spoken to the police in Manchester and Birmingham and it has been ensured that it will be a no-flying zone during the course of the semifinals in the two cities.

Commenting on the matter in Headingley, ICC said in a release: "We are incredibly disappointed this has happened again. We do not condone any sort of political messages at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. Throughout the tournament we have worked with local police forces around the country to prevent this type of protests occurring. After the previous incident, we were assured by West Yorkshire Police there would not be repeat of this issue, so we are very dissatisfied it has happened again."

On June 29 during the match between Pakistan and Afghanistan, a plane with a banner reading "Justice for Balochistan" flew over the same stadium.

Reacting to the June 29 incident, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had said: "We do not condone any sort of political messages at the ICC Men''s Cricket World Cup and will work with West Yorkshire police to deal with and understand why this has happened and to ensure it does not happen again."