The Karnataka police have released nine journalists they had detained in Mangaluru early on Friday. The city was under curfew since Thursday following the death of two anti-citizenship law protesters in police firing.
The police detained the presspersons from Kerala when they reached the hospital where the bodies of the agitators were kept for post-mortem examination.
The internment of the presspersons by the Karnataka police dominated the television news in Kerala and prompted widespread concern for their welfare and safety.
Meanwhile, Perumbavoor witnessed arguably its biggest ever mass mobilisation as over 35,000 people lined up in a protest march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens on Friday. The detention of Kerala journalists in Mangaluru triggered strong rebuke from the media fraternity. At a protest meeting under the aegis of the Ernakulam Press Club, media observer Sebastian Paul said journalists were living in fear and what happened in Mangaluru could be replicated elsewhere.
