Detention of journos intensified protests at Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Dec 22: National Highways were blocked and state-run buses from neigbouring Karnataka stopped at many places of Kerala on Friday by anti-CAA protesters,even as journalists, students and political party activists took out rallies against implementation of the controversial Act.

The killing of the two anti-CAA protesters in police firing and the detention of Malayali journalists in Mangaluru by local police triggered widespread protests across Kerala past mid night.

Condemning the detention of Malayali TV reporters in Mangaluru, journalists staged protest rallies in various places under the banner of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) and district press clubs.

Braving rain, over 150 journalists from various media houses took part in the march in the state capital and protested against the controversial CAA and the "illegal" detention of their colleagues.

The media persons were detained for entering the Government Wenlock Hospital in Mangaluru where the post-mortem of two people killed in the firing on Thursday was underway this morning.

Cameras and mobile phones of of the detained journalists were also seized by the local police.

State-run buses from Karnataka were blocked in various districts, including Malappuram and Kozhikode by the protesters.

Demanding the release of the detained journalists, DYFI activists blocked a Karnataka bus in Nilambur.

They also squatted on the Nilambur-Mysore inter-state road and raised slogans against CAA and Mysore police's "high handedness".

At least three Students Federation of India (SFI) were injured when a protest march took out by the Left students' union turned violent in Pathanamthitta.

Television visuals showed police using force to disperse the angry protesters who raised slogans against the CAA and the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre.

In Kollam district, Congress party activists blocked the national highway at Chinnakkada under the leaderhip of the district congress committee president Bindhu Krishna.

Police later arrested and removed the protesters and cleared traffic.

AICC general secretary K C Venugopal, who courted arrest in Alappuzha while leading an anti-CAA protest march organised by the district congress committee,said the "unconstitutional" legislation would not be implemented in party-ruled states.

In Kannur, students of the Krishna Menon Women's College burnt posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and took out a protest march through a nearby national highway, raising anti-CAA slogans.

They also alleged that ABVP activists tried to threaten them for organising the protest and pasting posters of Modi and Shah at the entrance of the college.

The Kerala Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has suspended bus services to Mangaluru.

State Transport Minister A K Saseendran told reporters here that the service would be resumed only after the situation there comes under control.

Meanwhile, the Kerala police has been directed to maintain high vigil in northern districts of the state in the wake of theMangaluru firing.

In a Thursday night alert, state DGP D Loknath Behera instructed the force to be on high alert especially in the districts of Wayanad, Kozhikode, Kasaragod and Kannur, an official statement said here.