Police deploy water cannons on DYFI march to CM’s MLA office in North Paravur

Commotion broke out near Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan’s MLA office in North Paravur on Friday afternoon after the Democratic Youth Federation of India staged a protest march demanding his resignation over the alleged links of Youth Congress activists arrested on synthetic drug peddling charges with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

DYFI activists trying to pull down police barricades deployed to stop their protest march to the Chief Minister’s MLA office in North Paravur on Friday.

A large police contingent stopped the march by erecting barricades a few hundred metres from the MLA office near Kesari Junction along the national highway. As the protesters refused to retreat and attempted to pull down the barricades, police deployed water cannons.

The activists, however, persisted, and the tension lasted for over an hour, throwing traffic in the area out of gear. It took considerable time before traffic was restored.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) pilloried the government and Mr. Satheesan, terming the arrests of Youth Congress activists — Muhammad Hussien, P.A. Abdul Salam, and P. Abbas — as emblematic of the “rot” in the CMO.

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan alleged that the accused managed Mr. Satheesan’s social media handles, including reels glorifying the Chief Minister. He said videos of Mr. Satheesan fraternising with them in the CMO and visiting their houses had gone viral on social media.

The Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) accused the UDF government of clamping down an “undeclared social media emergency” by allegedly removing several posts and news reports related to the arrests of Youth Congress leaders.

Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan had also posted screenshots showing the removal of news reports of his own statements on one of the accused being close to Mr. Satheesan. The Chief Minister denied making any request to Meta to remove news items related to him or the government from Facebook.