By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent
Thiruvananthapuram: Four persons from the Muslim fishing community were killed when the Kerala police opened fire to end a clash between two groups in the Cheriyathura-Beemapally coastal area on the outskirts of the Thiruvananthapuram city on Sunday evening (May 17, 2009).
The dead has been identified as Ahmed Saleem (50), Badusha (35), Syed Alavi (24), Abdul Hakkeem (27). About 37 persons were injured during police firing. Three of them, Shafeeq (21), Sajeer (22) and Ali (34) have sustained serious head injuries.
The clashes erupted after a local mafia boss called Shibu tried to extort money from a small restaurant belongs to Muslim fisherman community in the area on Saturday. The extortionists were manhandled by the locals as a protest against mafia rule in the impoverished suburban area. The criminal gang returned to the area with more people and started pelting stones at shops and nearby houses. They also torched boats and fishing nets and damaged shops in the area. Scores were injured as the attacks continued on Sunday. The police force failed to arrest the mafia leader, Mr. Shibu, a notorious criminal and drug dealer, which resulted in mass resistance of fishing community.
The irate crowd pelted stones at police demanding the arrest of mafia leader. Soon, the police, under Commissioner A P George, opened fire to disperse a violent mob assembled at the beach. But locals alleged that police fired at the crowd without warning. Police should have used tear gas or rubber bullet to disperse the crowd. But the police fired at throat and chest of the dead and even by chasing the crowd from behind. While two bodies were moved to the medical college hospital, two others were kept in a house as community leaders were not handing them over to the police, demanding a judicial probe.
Police even denied access to medical facilities to the injured.
Victims says that police was unnecessarily trying to make the clashes as communal, while they were responding against mafia-police nexus.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who was in New Delhi, has appealed to the people to remain calm. “Adequate compensation would be given to those who have suffered damages and (the government) will do the needful for those who lost their lives,” Achuthanandan said. N. Ramachandran Nair, the senior leader of Communist Party of India demanded strict action against police.
Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is also in New Delhi, said the violence had nothing to do with the Lok Sabha election results announced Saturday, adding he would return here at the earliest.
Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy of the Congress Sunday night told reporters here that there was a lapse on the part of the police and a small clash had flared up into a tragedy. “A judicial inquiry should be ordered into the incident,” said Chandy. A company of the Central Reserve Police Force has been deployed in the area and a group of the Rapid Action Force was on its way to the place, officials said. Muslim organizations, meanwhile, have given a call for massive shut down of Thiruvananthapuram city to protest against the irresponsible police firing.