KSU stir: CM Pinarayi defends police, Opposition stages walkout
- 'KSU’s demonstration was not a protest march but an attack. The protesters carried stones and rods'
- The CM denied allegations that injured protesters were denied treatment at the TVM Medical College
- The Opposition staged a walkout after the Speaker denied their notice for discussion on police action
FollowReacting to the Opposition's criticism that KSU activists agitating in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday were brutally lathi-charged by the police, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in the Assembly that police personnel were only retorting after KSU workers attacked them.
“KSU’s demonstration was not a protest march but an attack. The protesters had come with stones and dowel rods. The police resorted to cane-charge only after the agitators broke the law,” Pinarayi said in the Assembly on Wednesday, while replying to the adjournment motion moved by the Opposition.
The CM denied allegations that the injured protesters were denied treatment at the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. He also said that none of the injuries were serious and that police didn't hit anyone in the head.
Meanwhile, the Opposition staged a walkout after the Speaker denied their notice for a discussion on the police action against the KSU. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that the government is trying to kill the agitation by the students. Some of the Opposition legislators had carried blood-stained clothes of the KSU activists with them.
The demonstration taken out by KSU on Tuesday, in protest against the fee hike in postgraduate medical fee, had turned violent, leaving several activists and police officials injured. As the protesters attempted to topple the barricades erected near the Assembly premises, the police used water cannon and tear gas on them.
