Clashes broke out in Kannur between the police and Youth Congress workers during a march to the venue of the Navakerala Sadas near the Collectorate on Tuesday.

The police set up a barricade barely a few meters from the District Congress Committee (DCC) office to stop the Youth Congress march. Tensions escalated by around 11.30 am when the workers attempted to overturn the barricade.

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The police used water cannons to disperse the youth Congress workers. When the police sought to arrest and remove the Youth Congress activists, they faced resistance leading to clashes and slogan shouting against the police.

The march was organised in protest against an incident in which Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) workers allegedly assaulted Youth Congress workers who were protesting by waiving a black flag at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and other Cabinet Ministers at Pazhayangadi on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Pazhayangadi Police have registered a case against 14 Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), CPI-M youth wing, workers for assaulting Youth Congress members who were waving black flags at the chief minister and other ministers in Kannur on Monday . The incident occurred after the Navakerala Sadas session in the Kalyasseri Assembly constituency at Madayipara on Monday.

The Youth Congress activists, who waved black flags to Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues, returning from the Nava Kerala Sadas in the Kalliassery constituency, were brutally beaten up by CPI-M-DYFI workers in Pazhayangadi near Kannur on Monday.

It has been reported that CPI-M-DYFI workers surrounded and beaten up   youth Congress workers. They were brutally beaten with helmets and were kicked to the ground.  It is clear in the footage that the policemen are also beating up the black flag protestors.

In this connection, the chief minister claimed that the DYFI workers had prevented the Congress worker who tried to throw himself in front of the moving bus transporting the Cabinet. He said the DYFI workers were actually saving the youth Congress workers from a mishap. Youth Congress state president Rahul Makkoottathil asked the CM whether smashing the head was a rescue operation.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader VD Satheesan has alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan converted Kerala into a gangster state. Speaking to media persons in Kochi on Tuesday, Satheesan said Pinarayi Vijayan is “a man with a criminal mindset.”

Criticising the chief minister’s defence of DYFI activists who manhandled Youth Congress workers in Kannur while staging a black flag protest, Satheesan said criminals and goons are accompanying the Chief Minister in the Navakerala Sadas.

“No chief minister of the state had ever justified criminals and goons as CM Vijayan did,” said Satheesan.