A march taken out by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) to the office of the Deputy Director of Education here on Friday, in protest against the decision of the government to accord autonomous status to 13 colleges in the State, turned violent.
The police had to use water cannons to disperse the agitators when they attempted to barge into the DDE office after breaking the police barricades. The protesters were also seen throwing stones at the police. Senior Civil Police Officer P.K. Jyothy and Civil Police Officer E. Babu attached to the Kasaba police station sustained injuries in stone-throwing. Shijo George, cameraman, India Vision, was attacked while capturing the violence. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists has demanded action against those involved in assaulting the cameraman.
The trouble began around 12.15 p.m. A large posse of police led by Kasaba Circle Inspector N. Biswas blocked the protesters.
