Southern States - Kerala   

A rash of protests in state

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Nov. 8. A meeting of prominent citizens in Kozhikode today passed a resolution condemning the Tamil Nadu Assembly's "action" against editors and senior journalists of The Hindu and the editor of Murasoli, and the police raid on the office of The Hindu in Chennai.

Among those who spoke were the Congress leader, N.P. Moideen, the author, U.A. Khader, the Kerala Sahitya Akademi vice-chairman, U.K. Kumaran, the editor of News Kerala, C.K. Krishna Panikkar, and the INTUC leader, A. Rajan. The meeting decided to send copies of the resolution to the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Tamil Nadu Government.

Leaders of journalist unions also condemned the incidents. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists president, Boby Abraham, and the general secretary, S. Jayasankar, demanded that the Central Government dismiss the AIADMK Government in Tamil Nadu which had suppressed the freedom of the press and violated the tenets of the Constitution. In a statement, they called upon the journalists and the public to take out protest demonstrations in all districts on Monday.

The Hind Mazdoor Sangh national president, Thampan Thomas, urged the trade unions to join the demonstrations planned by the KUWJ on Monday.

The editor of weblokam.com.Trivandrum, a Malayalam portal, T. Sasimohan, condemned the incident at a meeting. At a meeting of visual media journalists in Kollam, the chief editor of the weekly, Kerala Sabdham, B.A. Rajakrishnan, said attempts to weaken the press would only weaken the democracy. He also led a protest march in the city.

Describing the incidents in Chennai as outrageous in a statement, the Bank Employees Federation of India president, P. Sadavisan Pillai, said the attack on the press was not an isolated incident, but well planned and a sequel to the earlier one on the State Government employees and trade unions.

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