The Central police on Tuesday registered a case against around 20 Kerala Students Union (KSU) activists following a protest march taken out by the outfit to the Maharaja’s College hostel demanding the arrest of Students Federation of India (SFI) activists, who were allegedly hiding in the hostel after beating up KSU activists on the campus on Monday.
They were booked under charges including rioting and unlawful assembly. The march, which started from the District Congress Committee (DCC) office, was stopped by the police using barricades in front of the college hostel. The police also used water cannons against the activists.
Addressing the march, DCC president Muhammed Shiyas said the party would go to any extent to protect its workers. Targeted attacks against party workers would be resisted, he said. In his presidential address, Aloysius Xavier, district president of the KSU, demanded that the SFI put an end to its “Kannur model violence” in Maharaja’s College. The unprovoked attacks against KSU activists in colleges minutes after the killing of an SFI activist in Idukki were sheer hooliganism and Talibanism, he said.
Mr. Xavier said that criminalisation of college campuses and similar attacks against KSU activists would be strongly resisted.
