The city witnessed stormy scenes on Saturday when a group of Indian National Congress (INC) workers tried to barge into the Head Post Office building near Mananchira during their protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which was attended by senior Congress leaders. They jumped over the compound wall and tried to storm the office complex breaching police security, soon after Shashi Tharoor, MP, opened the district-level protest meet.
Tension prevailed in the area when Youth Congress activists who were chased away from the Post Office building complex tried to climb the riot control vehicle and shouted slogans against the police. The police resorted to lathi charge as some irate workers pelted them with stones and worn-out tyres. Water cannon was used twice to disperse the agitators who squatted down on Kozhikode-Kannur Road.
The protesters who continued to resist police action by blocking the road alleged that the Union government was trying to create communal divide in the country by introducing CAA. They accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of creating terror in the minds of the Muslim community and defying the principles of the Indian Constitution.
Fifty-four persons, including District Congress Committee president T. Siddique, KPCC leader Praveen Kumar, Youth Congress leader Vidya Balakrishnan and Kerala Students Union (KSU) district president V.T. Nihal, were arrested in connection with the incident. They were charged under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
Congress leaders alleged that many of their workers were mercilessly beaten up by the police and dragged on the road. They claimed that there were no attempts to incite violence but only to express public anger against the forceful implementation of CAA. Mr. Siddique said the Congress would intensify the stir by organising long marches in the district. Sunday would be observed as protest day flaying the police attack on party workers, he added.
Meanwhile, Town police said a Civil Police Officer who was part of the strike team sustained serious injuries in the stone-pelting.
