Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

UDF stages walkout

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition United Democratic Front members staged a walkout from the Assembly on Tuesday, charging the State government and the police with inaction in checking the alleged wanton violence by activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) in Kannur and Kozhikode districts on Monday.

The Opposition members, who sought adjournment of the proceedings to discuss the violence, said the SFI and DYFI activists had destroyed seven offices of the IUML and one of the Congress. They had attacked several Opposition workers in Kannur. They had used the death of James Augustine, headmaster, in violence at a cluster meeting as excuse to run amok in the two districts.

Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said the police had taken all steps necessary to check the violence and taken cases against both SFI and Opposition activists in connection with the incidents on Monday.

He said the violence erupted when Muslim League workers threw stones at a demonstration by SFI activists in Kannur town as part of the organisation’s ‘education bandh’ on Monday. The police had made timely interventions in the affected places and taken eight SFI workers into custody at Mattannur. The government had instructed the district authorities to facilitate a dialogue between the rival sides to bring the situation under control, he added.

C.T. Ahammedali (Muslim League) said the SFI activists had indulged in the violence with the connivance of the police, and warned the government against trying to intimidate Opposition party workers. He took exception to the police raid on the district office of the Muslim League in Kannur and the attack on the CH Centre in Kozhikode.

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