--- On Sun, 11/2/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Protest action: Solidarity Youth Movement workers staging a sit-in on the road when the police blocked their march to Chengara at Konnappara on Saturday. —
the hindu news item on chengara agitation ============================================================= ============================================================= Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/11/02/stories/2008110251590300.htm) Kerala - Pathanamthitta Chengara: SYM protesters caned Staff Reporter Miscreants damage vehicles 10 SYM workers, 5 policemen sustained minor injuriesProtesters halted ahead of the police picket PATHANAMTHITTA: The Chengara-bound anti-road blockade march by workers of the Solidarity Youth Movement (SYM), youth wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, ended in a minor lathicharge at Konnappara, near Chengara, on Saturday. As many as 1,500 SYM workers from different parts of the State congregated at Payyanamon, near Konni, in the morning as part of Saturday’s march. According to SYM leaders, the march was in protest against the three-month-old road blockade by plantation workers under the banner of the Joint Trade Union Action Council at Athumabamkulam, near Chengara, denying entry to all visitors, including medical teams, to the Kumbazha Estate. The march was led by SYM State president P. Mujeeb Rahman, general secretary K.A. Shafeeque, Jamaat-e-Islami political cell secretary Abdul Hameed Vanimel and Students Islamic Organisation State secretary Muhammed Aslam. Violent turn The march took a violent turn when a group of protesters tried to sneak through the police cordon while making way for two vehicles carrying a marriage party. The police party led by Dy.S.Ps Sabu P. Idiculla and M.S. Najeeb resorted to a minor lathicharge in an effort to check the protesters from proceeding to Chengara. As many as 10 SYM workers and five policemen, including Mr. Idiculla, sustained minor injuries in the scuffle. The police force was not sufficient to prevent the protesters from advancing a few metres on the Athumabamkulam Road. Self-restraint However, the protesters showed self-restraint and halted a few metres ahead of the police picket at Konnappara and staged a sit-in on the road for about an hour, raising slogans against the government, Harrisons Malayalam Limited and the trade unions. Mr. Rahman inaugurated the sit-in. He warned the government of intensifying the agitation if it failed to resolve the Chengara issue without any further delay. The SYM leader said that denial of food and medicine to hundreds of landless people who were on an agitation course for land was not befitting a democratically-elected government. Vilayodi Venugopal of the Plachimada Action Council, SUCI district secretary S. Rajeevan and Francis Kulathumkal of the Moolampally Coordination Committee were among those who spoke at the time. District Superintendent of Police K.K. Chellapan too reached the spot and as many as 80 protesters were arrested. Meanwhile, windowpanes of the vehicles that had brought SYM workers from Kasaragod, Malappuram, Kozhikode and other parts of the State, which parked on the roadside, were smashed by unidentified miscreants. Press conference Addressing a press conference at the Pathanamthitta Press Club later, Mr. Rahman called for stern action against those who damaged the vehicles. He said that ten buses, two cars and two jeeps were badly damaged in the attack by trade union activists and goonda elements attached to the estate owners. Heathen attitude& He alleged that both the police and trade unions had adopted a heathen attitude towards the landless people staging agitation for land at Chengara. Mr. Rahman said SYM would stage protest marches across the State against the attack. Copyright: 1995 - 2006 The Hindu Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the consent of The Hindu With Best Regards Sabique zaman
