YC march turns violent, KSU ends indefinite fast

Thiruvananthapuram: A street fight between police and Youth Congress/KSU workers marked the end of the indefinite fast observed by KSU state president K M Abhijith before the secretariat for the past seven days. KSU has called for an education bandh on Tuesday in the state to protest against the high-handedness of police.
Over a dozen YC workers and KSU workers, a couple of mediapersons and one policeman were injured in the stone pelting by the Youth Congress and in the subsequent lathicharge and grenade attack by police. The march taken out by YC workers in support of the fast carried out by the KSU president demanding a judicial inquiry into the violence at University College turned violent as both the YC and the KSU workers resorted to stone pelting and attacked police with bamboo sticks.
Police, in retaliation, used water cannons first and later teargass shells and grenade to disperse the mob. Some teargass shells fell near the satyagraha pandal of Abhijith, which caused serious discomfort to the leaders, following which they were shifted to the medical college hospital. YC state president Dean Kuriakose said the organization would take up the protest launched by KSU. He said in a democratic state no chief minister could turn a blind eye to a mass agitation.
Meanwhile, Akhil Chandran, who was stabbed by the SFI leaders in the University College on July 12, was discharged from the medical college hospital on Monday. He had suffered stab injuries on the chest and had undergone an emergency surgery. The doctors have advised him complete rest for two months, only after which he will be able to attend the classes.