THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the background of the recent police firing in the area, Cheriyathura is all set to observe the 50th death anniversary of another martyr killed in police firing.
The year: 1959. A police firing killed three, including Flory Pereira, a pregnant woman, at Cheriyathura. The rest is history with the resultant protest snowballing into the liberation struggle that brought down the EMS Ministry.
Monday, June 15, will mark exactly 50 years of the Vettucaud firing, one of the three police firings that had taken place in the coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram that year. Three persons, J. Marian, John Netto and P. John Fernandez, were killed in the firing on June 15, 1959. Two others, Yacob and Yaggappan, had died at Pulluvilla in the first of the three incidents of police firing, on June 12, 1959.
After about a month, Flory, who would end up as the most celebrated martyr of the Liberation Struggle, lost her life in the police firing at Cheriyathura during a protest march against the EMS-led Government. Flory’s grave lies alongside those of her fellow martyrs, Lazer Pereira and Antony Rebeira, who were also killed in the police firing of July 3, 1959. She was the main campaign plank of right-wing parties in the Assembly elections of 1960 soon after the fall of the EMS ministry.
Flory’s death was also the theme of one of the most popular songs of the liberation struggle - ``Thekkuthekkoru deshathu, thiramalakalude theerathu, bharthavilla nerathu, Flory ennoru garbhiniye, chuttukarichoru sarkare, pakaram njangal chothikkum, daivathinanne kattayam.’’
The slogan, which captured the spirit of the Liberation Struggle, narrates the story of Flory. The Liberation Struggle brought down the Communist Government and elections followed. The Communist party was defeated in the elections.
The Latheen Catholica Aikya Vedi is observing Monday as Flory Day as a mark of respect to the victims of the firing at Vettucaud, Pulluvilla and Cheriyathura. The day will begin with prayers in the churches of the coastal belt, at 6 a.m. It will be followed by the placing of wreaths and floral tributes at the memorials of the martyrs at Shangumugham. A rally will then be taken out from the graves of the martyrs at Vettucaud, Pulluvilla and Cheriyathura to the Vettucaud martyrs’ memorial at 9 a.m. The rally will then move to VJT Hall, where a meeting to observe the coastal area martyrs’ day will be organised.
trivandrum@epmltd.com