THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A clash erupted between activists of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the police in front of the Secretariat on Thursday.
The SDPI activists were taking out a march to the Secretariat protesting against charging 12 of their activists with treason after they waved a black flag at Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in Kozhikode, when the incident occurred.
The trouble began when the police blocked the move of the agitators to enter the Secretariat premises. When the police lathi-charged the agitators, they resorted to stone-pelting and the MG Road in front of the Secretariat resembled a battlefield for an hour.
The police lobbed teargas shells and used stinger grenades and water cannons to disperse the agitators.
Eleven policemen and a couple protestors were injured in the action. Cantonment police arrested 27 activists who were later remanded.
Top police officials said that more arrests would be made soon.