Tension prevails at Thiruvananthapuram Corporation as BJP, Yuva Morcha block office gates

March taken out by Kerala Students Union turns violent after the activists attempt to scale police barricades

Tension prevailed at the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation office on Friday after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Yuva Morcha workers attempted to block all the gates to the office, leading to altercations with Corporation employees and the public wanting entry. The Yuva Morcha workers had begun a sit-in at two gates of the office around 7 a.m., demanding the resignation of Mayor Arya Rajendran over nepotism allegations.

Around 10 a.m., they attempted to block the third gate too, through which employees as well as the public have been using to enter the building on all days of the protests. The tension was eased only after the police arrested and removed the Yuva Morcha workers.

A march taken out by the Kerala Students Union (KSU) also turned violent after the activists attempted to scale police barricades. The police resorted to lathi-charge and used water cannon to disperse them.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who inaugurated the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) agitation demanding the Mayor’s resignation, alleged that the Crime Branch investigation in the letter case was meant to “save the real culprits.”