The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : LDF protest leads to violence

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Sunday, Jul 20, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

LDF protest leads to violence

Staff Reporter

Kerala Youth Front (M) workers on fast attacked

— Photo: S. Gopakumar

Rage on the streets: City Police Commissioner Ravada Azad Chandrasekhar and police personnel trying to stop All India Students’ Federation activists who attempted to march towards the Secretariat on Saturday.

Thiruvananthapuram: The police baton-charged Left Democratic Front (LDF) workers who attacked Opposition activists fasting in a makeshift shed on the pavement in front of the Secretariat on Saturday evening.

T. Babu, local committee secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), was injured. The LDF activists were protesting over the death of James Augustine, headmaster, allegedly at the hands of Muslim Youth League protesters at Valillapuzha in Malappuram district. The Youth Congress and the Youth League had attempted to disrupt cluster meetings for teachers’ training at various schools in the State. Opposition activists attempted to storm at least 20 schools in the district where such programmes were under way. The police arrested more than 30 of them in the morning.

The violence began in front of the Secretariat at 5 p.m. when CPI(M) activists attacked the agitation shed of Kerala Youth Front-M (KYF-M) activists who were fasting in support for the demand for withdrawal of the controversial seventh standard social science textbook.

The CPI(M) workers threw stones at the shed and beat some of those on fast who ventured out. The fewer than 20 Youth Front workers used plastic chairs to shield themselves against the stones. The police swung batons to disperse the CPI(M) workers.

Hundreds of CPI(M) workers, government officials owing allegiance to the pro-ruling front Non-Gazetted Officers’ Union, Students’ Federation of India activists, members of pro-Left teachers’ organisations and All India Youth Federation workers blockaded the road in front of the Secretariat in protest against the headmaster’s death.

The police had a difficult time controlling them from attacking the KYF(M) protesters. They parked two police buses in front of the agitation shed to shield them from the wrath of LDF protesters. To prevent further attacks, the police arrested the fasting KYM workers and admitted them to hospital at night.

The sudden and violent protest threw evening rush-hour traffic out of gear. Hundreds of office-goers, including women, were stranded for several hours at bus stops along Mahatma Gandhi Road.

Strike

Functioning of State government offices and educational institutions in the district are likely to be affected on Monday as various organisations affiliated to Left parties have called for a strike.

Students’ Federation of India State secretary P. Biju said Left student activists would physically confront Opposition activists who attempted to undermine educational institutions in the public sector in Kerala.

He said the Opposition was using strong-arm tactics to intimidate and even destroy teachers who implemented the government’s education policy.

He accused the Opposition of working to the advantage of communal and casteist forces which controlled the private education sector in Kerala. He urged the government to register a case of murder against Youth League workers responsible for the death of the headmaster.

Injured

Five police personnel, including a Circle Inspector of Police, were injured in stone-throwing and clashes between activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India at Venjaramood on Saturday night. The police said the DYFI activists, who took out a protest march over the death of the teacher, destroyed the flags of the BJP and the Congress.

The BJP activists took out a protest march against this later. The Circle Inspector George Koshy and Prakash, Ajith, Arun and Abdul Wahid were injured.

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