Brutal Police Attack on LDF

THE marches organised by the LDF to the offices of Superintendents of Police, on the demands of instituting a judicial enquiry into police firings against adivasis, stoppage of police harassment of adivasis, compensation and lands for adivasis, settlement of hunger satyagraha of LDF MLAs etc., were brutally attacked by police at several places on March 17. The police resorted to firing against the march at Kannur and the marchers were fired with rubber bullets at several other places. The police resorted to firing at Kozhikode and Palakad also. The attack at all the places seemed to have been plotted by the police before hand. At Thiruvananthapuram, the march was held to the office of the DGP.

T Sivadasa Menon, former finance  minister, P Karunakran, General Manager, Deshabhimani, Govindan Master, CPI(M) Kannur district secretary, T Govindan, N N Krishnadas, S Ajayakumar and A P Abdhullakutty – all sitting MPs, and M A Baby, ex-MP were brutally beaten up by the police. Almost all of them had to be admitted to the hospitals with serious injuries. Police also attacked TV and newspaper reporters at Kannur, Kozhikode, Palakkad and Kollam. About six media workers were also admitted to various hospitals. Hundreds of CPI(M) workers were wounded in this brutal attack by the police. Pinarayi Vijayan, the state secretary of CPI(M), who inaugurated the march to the DGP office  at Thiruvananthapuram, was saved from the police attack by a human chain of several layers formed by  volunteers.

The demands and the issue of police atrocities were also after taken up on the floor of the assembly and the assembly had to be adjourned on the persistent protests by LDF MLAs. All the opposition MLAs later went in a procession to the satyagraha pandal of the four LDF MLAs who were on a fast for the 10th consecutive day. The four MLAs on fast have much weakened and are on constant medical watch.

There were demonstrations at various taluk centers in the evening in protest against police atrocities on CPI(M) leaders and workers. The police  forcefully entered the CPI(M) office at Changanassery and attacked the volunteers who were resting there after the demonstrations. The police fully damaged the office furniture and records there.

The LDF call for a state-wide hartal from 6 a m to 6 p m on the next day - March 18 to protest against this planned brutal attack by police on the CPI(M) and LDF leaders and workers evoked good response in the entire state.

RELAY FAST CONTINUES

Sreemathi Teacher and K P Rajendran, CPI(M) and CPI MLAs respectively, were removed to the hospital on the advice of doctors after being on fast for twelve days. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, deputy leader of opposition and member of central committee of CPI(M) and N Rajan, CPI MLA took over the places of MLAs removed to the hospital.

A batch of adivasis today joined the satyagraha programme of four MLAs, demanding judicial enquiry into the police firing against adivasis at Muthanga on February 19. About a thousand adivasis have arrived by the evening to join the mass satyagraha of adivasis on March 20.

Pinarayi Vijayan, state secretary of CPI(M) at a press conference at Kannur said that the government hastily adjourned the state assembly session because it was afraid to face the opposition on this issue.

V S Achuthanandan, leader of opposition, made it clear that the present struggle will continue till judicial enquiry is ordered in the case of police firings against adivasis on February 19 at Muthanga. Addressing the EMS memorial meeting in Thiruvananthapuram, he said that the family of K Muraleedharan, KPCC (I) president was having about 3500 acres of forestlands and a number of other companies on plantation business have also got thousands of acres of forestlands under unauthorised occupation. He demanded that the government should seize these lands and distribute it to the landless adivasis. Meanwhile, the police continued the arrests of CPI(M) workers all over the state and some seven hundred such workers, including panchayat members, corporators, women and children have been arrested.