Protestors get a dose of their own medicine

Activists of the All India Students Federation (AISF), who tried to close down a private school for working on a second Saturday, had the tables turned on them when parents and teachers counter-attacked, tied them up to trees and thrashed them black and blue. According to eyewitnesses, about nine AISF activists descended on the Audisankara Techno School near Leela Mahal centre at around 10.30 a.m. Terming the working of the school on a holiday, they broke window panes and glass doors of the  director’s room, as panicked students ran to safety.

As the news of the attack reached the students’ homes, parents came out in droves and rushed to the school to check on their wards and catch the trouble-makers. Finding themselves suddenly outnumbered, the activists tried to flee but the adults caught hold of three of them - Ramesh, Naresh and Raju. The other six escaped. The parents then tied the trio to trees and beat them up.  However, in order to broker peace, one of the escaped activists returned along with CPI city secretary Penchalaiah. But the fired up parents beat the the secretary as well. The activists were ‘rescued’ when the police took them into custody.

Speaking to Express, the school academic director P Vamsimohan said that initially three youths had come introducing themselves as relatives of some students. Later more arrived holding AISF flags and after raising slogans for some time, started damaging window panes. “If they really wanted to protest, they could have done so peacefully outside the school or asked the management to close the school,” Vamsimohan reasoned. 

But Penchalaiah said the activists had resorted to violence after their peaceful protest went unheeded by the school management.

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