KSU protests in Kerala over police lathi charge on its members

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 7 (PTI) The Kerala Students Union (KSU) on Tuesday staged protests in various parts of the state against the police lathi charge against some of its members.

Some educational institutions declared a holiday due to the strike called by the KSU, the student wing of the Congress.

A few KSU activists took out a protest march to the Kerala secretariat in the heart of the state capital and tried to remove the barricades set up there, following which water cannons were used by the police in an attempt to disperse them.

Thereafter, the protestors gathered there for some time, raised slogans against the police and then dispersed.

A protest march by KSU activists to Adoor police station in Pathanamthitta district was dispersed by the police by reportedly resorting to lathi charge.

The KSU had on Monday called a state-wide strike in educational institutions after some of its members, including a woman, were injured in a lathi charge by the police.

The incident occurred when they carried out a protest march to the residence of Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu.

The injured woman KSU activist told media that the police allegedly resorted to lathi charge after the protestors questioned why male officers were pushing around the female KSU workers.

'They purposely and deliberately hit me on the nose with a stick. It was a strong blow. It was not inadvertent, it was a targeted blow,' she alleged.

Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala termed the previous day's police action against the KSU activists as 'unjustified' and 'unpardonable'.

KSU had held a protest march to the minister's residence over the students' union election results of a government-aided college in Thrissur where initially its nominee was declared as chairman.

Subsequently, on a demand by the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the votes were recounted and a nominee of the left-wing student organisation was declared chairman.

The Sree Kerala Varma College in Thrissur had witnessed dramatic scenes on November 1 as the KSU alleged sabotage by the Left students' organisation during the recounting of votes to ensure the victory of its chairman candidate in the election. PTI HMP HMP ROH