Vizhinjam protest gets out of control, anti-port agitators attack police, vandalise station

Thiruvananthapuram: The Vizhinjam police station was vandalised and policemen were attacked by scores of angry anti-port protesters, including priests, who swarmed the Vizhinjam police station late on Sunday demanding the release of five men arrested as part of the violence on November 26 at the entrance to the port site.

Ground-level reports say that at least 12 policemen were injured, two of them seriously. Media persons were also injured. Two police jeeps and a shed were also destroyed.

There were reports that the Church-led anti-port protesters were not even allowing ambulances with injured policemen to move. However, after a time, locals in the area told Onmanorama that the ambulances were allowed to go.

When more people started to converge in Vizhinjam, and the situation seemed to spiral out of control, the police resorted to throwing tear gas shells, and later even grenades, to disperse the crowd that had no intention of turning back until their demand was met. As the standoff intensified, strict directions were issued against more use of force.

While more police personnel were dispatched to the troubled areas at Vizhinjam and Mulloor, top police officials, including Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner Sparjan Kumar, held talks with Church and other fishermen leaders to find ways to calm tempers. It is said the representatives of the agitators are firm that their people would not leave the station premises if the five men were not freed.

Police sources said that the force had always exercised restraint and said only five of the most habitual offenders were taken into custody after the violence on Saturday.

One of the agitators Onmanorma talked to said the police decision to name Latin Archbishop Thomas J Netto as the prime accused in the violence that took place on Saturday had badly provoked the community. He said there was a feeling among the Latin coastal folk that the LDF government was conspiring with Adani and other locals to crush the agitation using violence.

The top leadership of the Latin Archdiocese Thiruvananthapuram was collectively listed as the prime accused in the violence that erupted after the Latin Church-led anti-port protesters blocked a convoy of 25 trucks carrying granite to the port site on November 26, Saturday.

The FIR drawn up by the Vizhinjam police shows Latin Archbishop Fr Thomas J Netto himself as the first accused. The Auxiliary Bishop, Fr Christudas Rajappan, is the second accused and the convenor of the agitation Fr Eugene Pereira is the third.

The first 15 names in the FIR are the top spiritual leaders of the Latin community in the Thiruvananthapuram district. None of them, including Fr Eugene, was present at the protest venue when the violence broke out.

According to the police, the conspiracy to foment trouble was hatched by the top Latin leadership. The police case is that the anti-port agitators, at the instigation of the Archdiocese, had swarmed the protest site in 30-odd vehicles with the clear intention of causing widespread destruction and violence.

The FIR has 96 names and 50 of them are priests.