The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Employees' strike turns violent

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 25, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Employees' strike turns violent

Staff Reporter

115 trade union activists arrested

Thiruvananthapuram: The strike by State Government employees owing allegiance to pro-Left trade unions turned violent in front of several public offices in the city. The fights and stand-offs occurred when strike supporters attempted to prevent other employees from entering Government offices. The pro-Left unions were seeking pay revision. The city police have arrested as many as 115 trade union activists on charges including simple assault, illegal detention, disturbing public peace, unlawful assembly and rioting.

A.K. Chandran, general secretary of the pro-CPM Kerala State Teachers Association (KSTA), was injured when police tried to prevent KSTA activists from entering SMV High School. The activists have accused the police of manhandling them. CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has condemned the alleged attack on the KSTA leaders.

As many as 19 Non-Gazetted Officers (NGO) Union members were arrested by the police on the charge of assaulting employees who attended work at the Divisional Employment Exchange on Uppalam Road. Satheesh Karunakaran, Santosh Kumar, Venugopal and Sudheer were allegedly injured in the attack. Strike supporters detained Registrar of Cooperatives (Administration) K. Vijayan in his office. The police have registered a case against NGO Union workers in connection with the attack on Cooperative Inspector Ajith Kumar on the Neyyattinkara Civil Station premises. Police said Ajith Kumar was a member of the NGO Association, which had opposed the strike. In Attingal, police arrested nine strike supporters on the charge of unlawful assembly were given bail from the police station.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail