KOCHI/ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Within hours of the murder of engineering student Dheeraj Rajendran in Idukki, violent incidents were reported from different parts of the state as protest marches organised by SFI workers turned out to be forums for revenge attacks.
Around 10 KSU workers, including a girl, sustained injuries as SFI workers beat them up at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, in the afternoon. Offices of the Congress and its feeder organisations were attacked widely in Kannur district.
Tension prevailed for over an hour in Malappuram as SFI and DYFI workers attempted to breach police security and enter the Town Hall where Congress state president K Sudhakaran was addressing a meeting.
In Kollam, SFI workers tried to stop the vehicle of RSP leader N K Premachandran, MP, but the police intervened and cleared the way. He was on his way to a function at Chavara when SFI workers noticed his vehicle. In Punalur, Congress flag poles in front of the party office were allegedly destroyed by SFI workers who undertook a protest march in the evening.
SFI and DYFI workers raise slogans against Sudhakaran
Tension prevailed in Pathanamthitta town too after SFI cadre allegedly destroyed flag poles of the Congress and the Youth Congress. Later, Youth Congress workers, who assembled in the town for a protest march, were forcibly removed by the police as they did not have the required permission. The Musaliar College of Engineering and Technology, Malayalappuzha, encountered uncomfortable moments when the police tried to stop SFI workers who allegedly destroyed KSU flag poles while staging a protest march.
In Malappuram, SFI and DYFI workers raised slogans against Sudhakaran alleging that the Congress president is promoting violent politics in the state. Congress workers retorted with slogans and the two groups came face to face, ready to attack each other. Timely intervention by the police and the leaders from the Congress and the DYFI helped diffuse the situation.
Sudhakaran later left the Town Hall with a huge police escort. He alleged that the CPM was attempting to unleash violence against the Congress in different parts of the state. “There was no retaliation when BJP workers and SDPI workers murdered CPM workers in the past. Don’t think that Congress will surrender before threat,” Sudhakaran said in a statement. At Perambra in Kozhikode, an SFI march turned violent when a section of protesters hurled stones at the Congress mandalam committee office. Doors and windows were partially damaged in the attack.
However, no one was injured in the incident. The Congress office at Taliparamba in Kannur was attacked by DYFI and SFI workers. The attackers threw stones and tree trunks into the office and broke window panes. The KSU flagpole near the office was uprooted. Congress boards, banners and hoardings were destroyed by the protesting SFI and DYFI workers across the district, alleged Congress Kannur president Martin George.
In Kasaragod, suspected DYFI workers threw stones at the Congress mandalam committee office at Kanhangad when they took out a protest march in the town. The glass facade of the office was shattered in the attack. In Thiruvananthapuram, SFI workers staged a march from the University College to the Secretariat. Flags and posters of the Congress and its feeder organisations en route were destroyed by the protesters. In Alappuzha too, hundreds of SFI workers staged a protest march.
(With bureau inputs )