Cong stage sit-in protest at EKM police station; YC workers get bail
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Kochi: Tension prevailed on the premises of Palarivattom police station in the city on Tuesday night after senior Congress workers staged a blockade demanding the release of Youth Congress (YC) activists who were arrested for displaying black flags at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues.
The sit-in started on Monday evening and ended around 2 a.m. after the police produced the arrested Congress workers before the Magistrate in the wee hours of Tuesday. Following this, they were released on bail.
Prominent Congress leaders, including Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden, MLAs Uma Thomas, T J Vinod, Anwar Sadath and DCC president Mohammed Shiyas led the sit-in.
The leaders alleged that the police misbehaved with them when they reached the police station to inquire about the reason behind refusing to grant station bail to the arrested Congress workers.
Many party workers headed to the station and there was a scuffle before the police station as they tried to get inside. The protesters had also burnt an effigy of the CM in front of the police station.
The Congress leaders claimed that the police had initially agreed to release the party workers on station bail. However, the police later refused following the intervention of local CPI(M) leaders.
Earlier, the Congress workers were rounded up by the police after displaying black flags towards the convoy of the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues passing through the Palarivattom area.
The Chief Minister and the Ministers stayed in Kochi on Monday. They reached the city to participate in the Nava Kerala Sadas program in four assembly constituencies, which was initially scheduled for December 9 but was deferred following the death of CPI leader Kanam Rajendran.
The public outreach initiative, featuring Chief Minister Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues touring the state, officially wrapped up in Thiruvananthapuram on December 23.
With PTI inputs
