Adivasi agitation mars Onam Week celebrations

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPT. 5. A tense stand-off between the police and activists of the Adivasi Dalit Action Council (ADAC), who are agitating for food and cultivable land in the wake of recent the starvation deaths in Wayanad, marked the conclusion of the Onam Week pageant in the city.

Police arrested three slogan-shouting Adivasi activists who threw themselves on the road as the procession passed the VIP gallery which was occupied by several Ministers and top Government officials.

In a separate incident, scores of ADAC activists wrestled for hours with a police cordon in front of the Government Secretariat trying in vain to halt the procession which was moving down the M.G. Road.

Several policemen and ADAC workers, including their leader, Ms. C. K. Janu, suffered minor injuries in the scuffle. The activists also pelted stones and sticks at bedecked elephants and the mounted police as the front part of the procession moved down the M.G. Road.

The DIG (Thiruvananthapuram Range), Mr. A. Hemachandran, and the City Police Commissioner, Mr. Rajan Singh, were seen asking their men to exercise maximum restraint. The activists seemed hell bent on forcing the arm of the police by attempting to barge their way through the police cordon.

The Commissioner and the DIG, who stood between the riot policemen and the activists to prevent a confrontation, were hustled and pushed around by the angry activists.

The chain of events started at around 2.45 p.m. with ADAC activists -- who were shouting slogans against the Chief Minister, Mr. A. K. Antony, and SC/ST Development Minister, Mr. M. A. Kuttappan -- grouped in front the action council agitation shed after their convention at the Kumaraswamy Hall.

Immediately a police cordon was deployed in front of the shed to prevent the activists from encroaching upon the M.G. Road through which the Onam pageant was to proceed.

Trouble began at around 5.20 p.m. when more than a score of Adivasi workers tried to lay claim to the M.G. Road. There was a mild scuffle as the policemen removed the activists. At this juncture, the Adivasi leader, Ms. C. K. Janu, who lay on the road was arrested and removed to the Women's Police station.

The arrest of Ms. Janu led to frayed tempers and the enraged activists charged the police cordon demanding that their leader be released. Mr. Rajan Singh and Mr. Hemachandran rushed to the spot and placed themselves between the activists and the policemen.

At the Commissioner's instance, Ms. Janu, was released. She pacified her fellow activists and sought medical attention. A doctor was summoned to the spot and later, Ms. Janu, and three others were shifted to the hospital in a police van.

After Ms. Janu's departure the situation became more violent with angry activists asking the police to stop the pageant.

Senior officials initiated a dialogue with the Adivasi leaders. An agreement was reached and the police asked the managers of the pageant to maintain silence as the floats passed by the make- shift agitation shed erected in front of the Secretariat.

Several times the policemen in riot gear moved menacingly towards the activists who were throwing themselves repeatedly at the police cordon.

Tempers rose when some miscreant attempted to strip the sari of woman constable. Several policemen sustained broken lips and torn uniforms in the melee that lasted for more than three hours till 8. 15 p.m.

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Section  : Southern States
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