THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The political slugfest surrounding the anti-SIR protest at the Manaveeyam Veedhi, attended by actor Prakash Raj, turned murky on Saturday, as the Museum Police registered an FIR in the issue against the organisers for not getting prior permissions.
While Mayor V V Rajesh maintained that the issue of giving permission was purely procedural and not political, convenors of ‘Collective for Democracy’ reiterated their stance that the BJP-led corporation tried to block their protest.
The organisers have been booked under charges for allegedly blocking traffic and footpath, and not getting sanction to use microphones.
The FIR, which names nine members of the outfit, states that the organisers proceeded with the event despite being served notices to get sanction for using mike.
The document also states no major police action was initiated, as the arrest of any members or seizure of mikes would have caused law and order issues.
Corporation officials told TNIE that a sum of Rs 2000 has to be paid to host an event at Manaveeyam, which was not paid by the organisers. Stating that the final permission may take two to three days for final clearance, officials also informed that they will issue a notice imposing a fine on the organisers for not paying the fees for the event.
Responding to the allegations, Mayor V V Rajesh said that the current issue is not a political one. “Anybody can stage any event after getting due permissions from the corporation. How can they say that the corporation tried to prevent their protest without them even giving us a letter seeking permission? We will seriously look into the matter, and ask the police to take all possible actions against them for trespassing into government property,” he told TNIE.
Stating that he has written to the police to understand what happened that night, Rajesh added that the corporation and police will arrive at a common plan for regulating activities at the Manaveeyam Veedhi after the Navaratri holidays.
Stating that permissions will not be given for protests planned within a short span of time, Collective for Democracy convenor Sam Paul Raju said that moves to pull down the protest took place. “When we approached the corporation during the NEET protest, they denied permission stating that the route was booked for other programmes. But later this turned out to be wrong, as no programmes were held in those days. Hence, we did not approach them this time. The police also refused to accept our written request for our suddenly planned event, stating that they accepted requests only in the online mode,” he told TNIE.
Pointing out that Manaveeyam Veedhi was envisioned as a space where people can come and express themselves, Sam also added that levying fees from people for staging a protest should be seen as undemocratic.