Kerala - Kollam   

Tension in Kollam city after student violence

Staff Reporter

Crude explosives thrown at the police from S.N. College

RESTORING ORDER: The police arresting SFI activists from the Scheduled Communities Welfare office in Kollam on Wednesday.

KOLLAM: Tension gripped parts of Kollam city on Wednesday afternoon when activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI) attacked the police at different locations.

The police said the attack was without any provocation. A super fast and a fast passenger of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation were stoned at Polayathodu Junction.

A woman on one of the buses was injured in the eye when a glass splinter hit her.

The police said the activists, from the Kollam S.N. College unit, took refuge in the nearby CPI(M) district committee office complex when they chased them. When a police jeep passed that way, it was stoned from inside the party office. The badly injured driver was hospitalised.

The trouble began in the morning when a group of SFI activists led by State joint secretary P. Saji barged into the District Scheduled Communities Welfare office and gheraoed the officer K. Ancy, demanding immediate release of stipend to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students. The police soon arrived at the scene and brought the situation under control after arresting 18 SFI demonstrators from the office.

In protest against the arrest, another group of SFI activists led a march through Chinnakada and burnt Minister for the Welfare of Scheduled and Backward Communities A.P. Anil Kumar in effigy.

They then marched to S.N. College, followed by the police in two jeeps. On entering the campus, the SFI activists attacked the police and the jeeps by throwing stones at them.

When the police entered the campus to bring the situation under control, the students threw crude explosives at the police.

When police reinforcements arrived at the scene, the Principal dispersed the classes. Meanwhile, the SFI gang reached Polayathodu Junction where they attacked the KSRTC buses. On seeing the police, they ran into the CPI(M) office. A tense situation prevails at Polayathodu.

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