THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Protesting against police action against SFI members amid the SFI-KSU fight at Palayam, the organisation’s Thiruvananthapuram district committee staged a march to the Secretariat on Tuesday.
The march, which began from the University College, ended before the Secretariat, where police used water cannons against the protestors five times. The members, who later staged a sit-in protest, raised sharp criticism against the UDF government.
Inaugurating the march, SFI state secretary Sanjeev P S said that KSU workers are under the shadow of Kerala Police. “Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said there were no one-sided attacks on Monday, yet here we stand all injured. This suggests that the home department is not really under his control but under V D Satheesan,” he said.
The march was also attended by SFI state president Sivaprasad, who said that none of the SFI members had police benefits when the LDF was ruling for the last 10 years. Criticising the police action, former minister and CPM leader V Sivankutty said on Tuesday that the police explicitly supported the KSU attackers.
“The bizarre fact is, despite SFI members being attacked, cases were taken against them, thereby creating an impression that SFI is unleashing violence here,” he said.
Claiming that at least 15 SFI members suffered fractures and head injuries as part of the fight, Sivankutty also alleged that many KSU workers who gathered at the site were not even students.
Meanwhile, the Cantonment police had registered a case against 10 SFI members, including Sivaprasad, following the fight.
The FIR states that the SFI workers, who were taking part in the celebration parade after their election victory to the Kerala University Senate, pelted stones and sticks at the KSU workers who had wrapped up their celebrations and were waiting near the Martyrs’ Column here.
The report further states that close to 20 KSU workers who gathered here too pelted back stones. However, no KSU members’ names have been included in the FIR. It also states that police officers were injured and state vehicles damaged during the process.