T'puram: The final day of the district arts festival turned chaotic on Thursday night when participants protested the results of group dance competition in the HSS girls' category. Organizers were forced to lock the judges in a classroom to protect them from an aggressive crowd of students, parents, and trainers from Cotton Hill School.
The protests erupted after Carmel School was announced as the winner of the event. The team from Cotton Hill School, challenged the results, accusing the judges of bias. The situation quickly escalated, with the protesters allegedly using abusive language and attempting to confront the judges. The standoff lasted nearly four hours until a women's police team arrived at 7am on Friday.
Inaugurating the closing event, Neyyattinkara MLA K Ansalan condemned the unrest but emphasised the spirit of the festival. Referring to the controversy over a student climbing the flagpole during the flag-raising ceremony, he said that the student acted voluntarily and had received training from the fire and rescue department and NSS. TNN