After nearly three-and-a-half hours of intense standoff, Kerala police on Thursday arrested five CPM party workers who attempted to wreck the cars transporting Enforcement Directorate officials coming out of former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's rented house in Thiruvananthapuram after over eight hours of interrogation. Since 12 people have been identified as indulging in vandalism, more are expected to surrender soon.

CPM workers had mobilised in large numbers in front of Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan's rented house at Bakery Junction in Thiruvananthapuram where the ED officials were questioning his daughter Veena Vijayan in the Exalogic-CMRL case. 

The police were lulled into complacency by CPM's assurance. A senior police official said that earlier in the day the top CPM district leadership had assured the police that the protest would be peaceful.

This could have been the reason why armed policemen were not deployed in adequate numbers along the narrow stretch of road leading to the rented house. By around noon there were signs that the workers could go out of control. By then the CPM state secretary M V Govindan too had arrived to participate in the sit-in, and the shouting of slogans reached a fever pitch.

At this point, more armed policemen with shields and lathis fell into position in front of the entrance gate of the rented house. This caused CPM workers, perhaps charged by the moment, to rush forward and push the police cordon back.

A dangerous escalation was averted when senior CPM leaders including Govindan, urged restraint and asked the CPM workers to withdraw. Following consultations with the police, some were even removed from the area. A CPM worker said that they were told to move to the Palayam area nearby and organise a protest march there. 

However, taking the police by surprise, more CPM workers including those who had retreated to Palayam returned to the Bakery Junction area just when the ED officials drove out of Pinarayi's house in three cars after an extended interrogation. 

This time there were not enough police to prevent CPM workers from throwing eggs, bricks, stones, filled bottles and sticks at the cars. The windshields, both front and rear, were crushed with bricks and some men were seen hammering on a car and destroying its rearview mirror with their bare hands. 

At least two officers in the cars were mildly injured in the mass attack. One of the drivers was injured when glass shards from the shattered windshield pierced near his eye. All of them were taken to the Thiruvananthapuram General Hospital for medical examination. There are no serious injuries.

Just when the violence had erupted, Pinarayi himself had appeared before the media on the portico of the house, and virtually called for further mobilisation. "I congratulate all of you once again. We can face anything. That is our strength. Let us come out together," he said, and added: "What was on display today was the emotion of the state and the emotions of party comrades." 

It was with great difficulty that the cars were strained through the angry mob. By then those who had indulged in the violence had taken refuge in the CPM Palayam area committee office some two kilometres away.

It looked like the police had failed to anticipate the violence that was almost certain when a leader of Pinarayi's stature was held up for interrogation by a central agency.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said that the Kerala government or police were not informed about the ED raids in various parts of Kerala.

After the ED officials were taken out safely, the Palayam area committee office became the next conflict zone. The police came in pursuit of the attackers but local CPM leaders stood guard in front. Initially, DYFI and SFI cadres were seen lined up before the entrance to the office. Later, senior leaders like V Joy, Anavur Nagappan, Kadakampally Surendran and Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas arrived at the spot. 

They refused to let the police in. Varkala MLA and former CPM district secretary Joy conceded that the party was unable to control workers who he said were emotionally fired up by the action against their leader Pinarayi Vijayan. Nonetheless, he said that police would not be allowed to step inside the party office and arrest CPM workers.

The police, in turn, refused to budge from the area. ADGP (law and order) H Venkatesh, who was also on the spot,  said that the police would remain in the area until the vandals were taken into custody. The police team was infuriated that the CPM went back on its word that the protest would be peaceful.

The CPM blinked first. Their only demand was that the police should not enter the party office. They were willing to transfer their workers.

"You can anyway arrest them later, you have pictures of them," Brittas was heard saying. "We told the police that we will not allow them to enter the office and create a scene here. We don't want to weaken their fortitude by letting the police enter into their party office," he said.

Workers hidden in the party office silently got out through the back door and into police custody. Senior police officers said that stringent sections under Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act would be imposed on them. 

The PDPP Act describes 'public property' as "any property, which is owned by, or in the possession of, or under the control of the Central Government, any State Government, and any local authority. The rented cars that the ED used for its work on Wednesday were "in the possession" of the Central government when the attack took place. If found guilty, in addition to a huge fine, those charged can be sentenced to five years in prison.