Thiruvananthapuram: At least nine policemen were injured in the clashes that turned violent between police and protesters on Sunday during the ongoing agitation in Vizhinjam, about 20 kms from the state capital, over the construction of a port.
The clashes broke out after protesters laid siege to the Vizhinjam police station over an FIR registered against the Archbishop and the auxiliary bishop of Thiruvananthapuram, Thomas J Netto, on Saturday.
The top leadership of the Latin Archdiocese Thiruvananthapuram has been collectively arraigned 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 Archbishop Most Rev (Dr) 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.
On Monday, police have registered cases against 3,000 people in connection with the attack on Vizhinjam police station on Sunday night as part of the ongoing protest against port project of the Adani Group.
City police commissioner Sparjan Kumar said there will be no compromise on the cases registered against those who attacked the police station.
Meanwhile, the district collector has convened an all party meet in the evening to ensure peace in the region. However, the Vizhinjam Samara Samithi convener Eugene Pereira demanded a judicial inquiry into the violence that had last night. He blamed the police for the violence and said that the government had scripted the violence to the put the blame on the protestors.
With the protesters unleashing violence for the second consecutive day at Vizhinjam, putting the district police administration on their toes. The Thiruvananthapuram City police have strengthened security at all important points, roads around the port site, and coastal region to prevent any further untoward incident, the police said.
Moreover, the police added that the High Court had ordered that nothing should be allowed to impede construction work.
The high court had on November 22 warned the protesters that stern action will be taken against them if they failed to remove the obstructions.
The Kerala High Court was informed by the state government on Monday that steps will be taken to recover the loss suffered due to the violent protest and attack over the Vizhinjam sea port incident from the protesters.
Justice Anu Sivaraman, who was hearing a plea filed by the Adani Group against obstruction and blockade due to protests, said stern action should be taken in the matter.
The port, a Kerala government initiative, is currently being developed in a landlord model with a Public Private Partnership component on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (‘DBFOT’) basis.
The private partner, Adani Vizhinjam Port Private limited, commenced the construction on December 5, 2015 at a cost of Rs 7,525 crore.
The Vizhinjam International Transhipment Deepwater Multipurpose Seaport authorities had said that 70 per cent of the work has now been completed.