Thrissur: The UDF has called for dawn-to-dusk hartal on Saturday in the district protesting against the alleged police atrocities by cops during the protest march held in front of collectorate here on Friday morning. The Congress workers had conducted the collectorate march demanding the arrest of local CPM leaders including Wadakkanchery municipal councilor P.N. Jayanthan who are the accused in the gang-rape case. Wadakkanchery MLA Anil Akara suffered a fracture on his right elbow as the cops beat him up during the lathicharge. He is presently undergoing treatment at Thrissur Medical College Hospital at Mulamkuna-thukkavu.
After former chief minister Oommen Chandy inaugurated the protest and left the venue, the workers started pushing the police barricade resulting in cops resorting to lathicahrge. A total of 17 Congress workers suffered injuries in the police action. Civil police officer Siva Dasan of Viyyur Police station also suffered grave injuries on his face as protesters pelted stones in retaliation of the lathicharge. Even though a special team led by ACP G. Poonguzhali has started a re-probe into the gang-rape case, the investigation has hit a dead end with the alleged victim unable to identify the place of occurrence and other details of the crime. Mr Akara had on Friday alleged that police was protecting the accused without arresting and questioning them.
