The police fired three rounds of water cannons to disperse Congress workers who staged a march to the Kochi City Police Commissionerate on December 20 (Wednesday) as part of the Statewide protest against alleged attacks by policemen on activists of the Youth Congress and the Kerala Students Union (KSU) waving black flags at the Navakerala Sadas motorcade.
The march, which started from the District Congress Committee (DCC) office near the M.G. Road, was stopped nearly 100 m from the City Police Commissionerate. The protesters attempted to bring down the barricades by pulling its ropes, prompting the police to fire water cannons at them. A tense situation prevailed briefly as the workers shouted slogans against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and accused his gunman and other police personnel of attacking the activists of the Youth Congress and the KSU.
Mohammed Shiyas, president of the Ernakulam DCC, warned the Chief Minister that the Congress workers will be forced to take law into their hands if such attacks against peaceful democratic protests continued.
‘CM acts like an autocrat’
He alleged that Mr. Vijayan was acting like “an autocrat” by encouraging his security personnel and “goons” of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) to attack the Congress workers.
Members of the district unit of the Mahila Congress were among the nearly 200 workers from the Assembly-level party committees in Ernakulam, Vypin, Kochi, Kalamassery, Thrippunithura and Thrikkakara who participated in the march.
Similar marches to police stations in the remaining Assembly constituencies in Ernakulam district were also held as part of the protest.
