KOCHI: Despite the police forcefully removed local residents staging a protest against the Bevco outlet at Cherai, the latter on Saturday kickstarted another round of sit-in protest. The new protest venue is 100 metres away from the earlier site demolished by the police the other day. The cops had forcefully removed a group of residents, including women and children, who had been staging a sit-in protest seeking closure of the beverages outlet.
Of them, 31 protestors were booked under IPC sec 146 (rioting) and released on bail. Protesting for the past 25 days in front of the outlet functioning out of a rented building, the local residents of Raktheshwari Beach Road in Cherai have been demanding its closure.
“Currently, we haven’t received any complaint against the new protest venue. We are closely monitoring their movement. If the agitation takes another turn, we will be forced to take action,” said Munambam police, who allegedly dragged women and even physically-disabled people into their vehicle.