Kozhikode: The protest marches carried out by both the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Youth Congress (YC) to the National Institute of Technology, Kozhikode, turned violent after the police blocked the agitators.
Police resorted to lathi-charge and later used a water cannon to disperse the crowd. A YC member injured his finger when it got stuck in the police barricade.
The youth organisations held marches against the now-deleted social media comment by a faculty member Asso. Prof. Shaija Andavan, who wrote that Godse saved India by assassinating Mahatma Gandhi.
The district committee of the DYFI, the youth wing of CPM, and the mandalam committee of the Youth Congress marched to NIT and held a sit-in protest seeking action against Prof. Andavan.
Both started their marches from Kattangal town and headed to the NIT main gate. While DYFI started by 11 am and by 12.30 YC also started its protest.
But police erected barricades to stop the other rallies. Clashed erupted when agitators tried to breach it. This led to clashes between the police and protesters. Then the police used water cannons to disperse the crowd. During the Youth Congress march, protesters allegedly peddled stones at police.
Later in the day, the Youth League also conducted a protest in front of the NIT demanding appropriate action against the faculty member.
The DYFI march was inaugurated by State President V Vaseef. YC march was inaugurated by District Congress Committee President K Praveen Kumar.
