Comedian Munawar Faruqui was scheduled to perform two sold-out shows today at a 70-seater venue, LVC Comedy Club in Goa. However, a small gathering attended by the local press came together in Panjim on Friday, during which a group of people protested against the shows saying they didn’t want a repeat of the Indore incident (earlier this year) in their state.

At the press conference, a spokesperson for the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti said that Faruqui should not be given permission for the show as it hurts religious sentiments in Goa. The spokesperson pointed at previous show cancellations in Mumbai and Indore, arguing that we shouldn’t give permission for things he has already been arrested for.

“The local police got in touch with us to say they had received several complaints about the show, including a written threat that 500 people would set themselves on fire if the event was allowed to take place,” an LVC spokesperson told DeadAnt. “The police were being very nice to us, actually, and said they couldn’t stop us from doing the show, but wanted to avoid the risk of any threat being carried out. If we chose to continue, however, there would be a lot of paperwork involved, so we knew the process was going to get very difficult for us. We decided to cancel the show to avoid putting the audience and venue at risk of any physical harm.”

Faruqui’s shows stand cancelled.