The protest organised by Kerala Students Union in support of the PSC rank holders’ protest in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram has turned violent. Thwarting the student organisation’s bid to enter the Secretariat premises, the police resorted to lathi-charge, tear gas, and water cannon to hold the protest. With this, the matter turned more violent.
As the conflict progressed, Youth Congress members joined the KSU in the conflict zone and the clash went on for a while. The situation turned complicated when the organisation leaders including women were injured in the police attack. KSU state president KM Abhijith and vice president Sneha were a few of the injured. Reportedly, a few police officers were also injured in the same clash.
However, the matter took a different turn when the protestors levelled serious allegations against the police officers. Firstly, female protestors claimed that they were attacked by male police officers despite there being female officers in the background. They added that the male officers attacked them with lathis, and abused them using foul language. Sneha suffered a head injury in the attack, and other injured members have been taken to the hospital.
Currently, the situation seems to be peaceful as one group is currently protesting in front of the road, and another gathering near MLAs Sabarinath and Shafi Parambil. The latter alleged that a couple of officers were in the attacking group without wearing any nametags, and they claimed that these officers started the clash. Currently, the situation seems to be tense, and everyone is on their guard.
