Kannur/Thiruvananthapuram: Protests against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gathered momentum on Monday as political activists took to the streets showing black flags and police clamping down heavily on agitators with tear gas and water canons.
Youth Congress workers also managed to sneak into Pinarayi's Thiruvananthapuram- bound flight from Kannur in the evening.
In a video which went viral, two purported Youth Congress activists, one of whom was wearing a black shirt, can be seen resorting to sloganeering inside the flight, while a masked LDF convener E P Jayarajan gets up from his seat and pushes them away.
'Why sir, can't we protest? The workers were heard asking Jayarajan.
The duo later staged a sit-in protest at the airport premises after the flight landed, visuals aired by Manorama News TV showed. They were arrested later, following the complaints of the CM's PA and gunman.
As per reports, the protesters were Youth Congress Mattannur block panchayat president Farseen Majeed and district secretary Naveen Kumar.
The CM and the protesters had boarded the same flight from Kannur.
The Opposition-led protests against Pinarayi have been continuing for the past few days after gold smuggling case key accused Swapna Suresh alleged the involvement of CM and his family members.
Cops threw a tight security cordon around the CM and prohibited people from wearing black masks or clothes, triggering an outrage.
The CM's office denied such instructions have been passed on to cops. He later said nobody will be stopped from wearing the clothes of their choice.
The protests across the state have been troubling the common men too. An aged woman reportedly felt nauseous after the police sprayed tear gas in Thiruvananthapuram to quell a protest near the airport premises.
The CM is now back in his official residence Cliff House, in Thiruvananthapuram, and about 380 policemen have been deployed for his protection.
'They were trying to attack CM,' says Jayarajan
According to EP Jayarajan who spoke to MMTV, the workers who raised the slogans inside the flight was trying to "attack the CM." He said, "What happened within the flight is a kind of terrorist action and senior Congress leaders are behind the same. V D Satheeshan should explain this kind of behaviour from the workers. They were also drunk and were trying to create a ruckus within the flight. Airport authorities should also look into this and take action." Meanwhile, MMTV reported that Valiyathura police will charge non-bailable offence against the workers, for protesting inside the flight.
Meanwhile, Farseen, one of the two Youth Congress workers, told the media that he has never taken alcohol ever in life and demanded a medical examination to prove the same, reacting to Jayarajan's allegations. "We have not attacked the CM, all we did was raise slogans. But, CM's security personnel manhandled us," he said.
(to be updated)
