THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Popular Front of India (PFI) members on Monday took out a protest march to Cliff House, the official residence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, alleging that the police were arbitrarily targeting their leaders in Alappuzha hate speech case. Tension gripped the high-security zone here as the protestors and police had a standoff for more than two hours.
The march began from Attakkulangara in which hundreds of PFI members took part. As the march reached Dewaswom Board Junction, the police blocked them using barricades. Those protesters, who tried to cross over the barricades, were pushed back by the cops. Nevertheless, they refused to leave the place following which the police used water cannons on them. When the agitators refused to disperse, the cops burst tear gas. As many as 10 activists were injured in the police action, a PFI media handout said. The agitators, in return, threw empty water bottles at the police.
However, the police maintained restraint. PFI state secretary C A Raoof, who addressed the gathering, alleged that the police have been unjustly targeting their organisation, while going soft on Sangh Parivar leaders booked for giving statements that could create enmity between communities.
Alleging that the government is depicting an anti-RSS slogan as against the Christian and Hindu communities, Raoof said certain police officers were working for the RSS.“All communalists and criminals have been let loose in the state. Amid all these things, the honest police officers are suffering. If Pinarayi Vijayan does not know how to handle the home department, he should resign. The CPM should understand that the country does not work as per the Communist Manifesto,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Museum police have registered cases against four leaders invoking bailable charges for organising the protest march.What precipitated the PFI protest march to the chief minister’s house was the arrest of its state treasurer K H Nazar and state committee member Yahya Thangal in connection with the controversial sloganeering by a minor boy in Alappuzha during the PFI conference last month.
More than two dozen PFI activists have so far been arrested in connection with the case, while the PFI alleged that Alappuzha police were pursuing its state president C P Muhammed Basheer and other state leaders as well.
The Museum police have registered cases against four PFI leaders and more than 1,000 activists, who could be identified, under bailable offences for taking out the march.