The protest marches in Kerala on Wednesday, spearheaded by the Congress against the attack on KSU and Youth Congress workers, who had raised opposition to the Nava Kerala Sadas and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s alleged subversion of the state police to stifle democratic dissent, turned violent in many parts of the state.
Thousands of Congress workers marched to police stations across the state to protest against what they termed the law enforcement’s political partisanship and high-handedness.
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Thiruvananthapuram emerged as the epicentre of the state wide anti-government protests. Hundreds of Youth Congress workers, led by its state president Rahul Mamkoottathil and Shafi Parambil MLA marched to the Secretariat carrying a banner questioning whether Pinarayi Vijayan was the chief minister or “chief goonda”.
The secretariat march was inaugurated by Opposition Leader V D Satheesan. Following the speech of the senior Congress leaders, the police tried to disperse the protestors. As they did not pay heed to the cops, the police used water cannons on them.
Some of the protestors, including women, tried to trespass into the Secretariat compound. Several policemen and Youth Congress workers sustained injuries in the violence that erupted during the march.
The scenario turned worse when the police began arresting the protestors. The irate Youth Congress workers tried to block the police vehicles in which the detained protestors were taken away.
The cops resorted to lathi charges in which several Youth Congress leaders, including its state president Rahul Mamkoottathil, were injured. Rahul sat on the road and refused to be evacuated by ambulance to the nearby General Hospital.
Youth Congress workers repeatedly resisted police efforts to arrest and remove them from the spot on police buses. They smashed the windowpane of a police vehicle in the melee.
The Secretariat locality remained a conflict zone for hours, forcing the police to divert traffic. Motorists and two-wheeler riders had to take long detours to reach their destinations. The violence unfurled in the state capital on the eve of the Navakerala journey set to enter the district on Thursday.
Opposition leader VD Satheesan accused the police of brutalising Youth Congress workers while giving SFI workers demonstrating against Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan the kid-glove treatment.
The Congress march turned violent in Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts. In Kochi, Congress workers endured water cannon blasts. They attempted to bring down the iron barricade blocking their access to the City Police Commissioner’s office.
The march was organised to 564 police stations in the state. The protesters attempted to breach police barricades at Mukkam in Kozhikode, and clashed directly with the police.
The Congress has also decided to organise a protest march to the police chief’s headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on December 23, the concluding day of the Nava Kerala Sadas.
