In Thiruvananthapuram, on Monday, a rally held by radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) turned violent. At around 12 noon, members of the outfit took out a march toward Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s official residence ‘Cliff House’ against the arrest of Popular Front leaders following the hate slogans given by a child in a recent rally in Alappuzha.
PFI members smashed barricades and hurled bottles at police during an agitation against the LDF government in Kerala in response to the actions taken against PFI leaders after the Alappuzha hate speech controversy. Led by the state leadership of the Popular Front, the march was announced on the grounds that the leaders were being imprisoned on false charges.
The march quickly erupted into clashes at the Devaswom Board Junction. The PFI members tried to jump over the police barricades. The attempts to challenge the law and order situation were curtailed when the police used water cannons at the protestors. To bring the situation under control, the police used tear gas shells and grenades to disperse the crowd.
The situation near the CM’s residence resulted in a traffic jam that continued until 2 PM when the agitators left the scene. Six people were taken to the hospital following the incident. A video from the PFI rally held on May 21 had gone viral on social media in which a child was giving death threats to Hindus and Christians. Following the matter, The Kerala High Court had directed the Police to take strict action in the matter. The Kerala Police have arrested 20 people so far, including the father of the boy who gave the threatful slogans.
At a PFI rally in Alappuzha, Muslim boy chants for death to Hindus
In the incendiary videos that had gone viral on social media, a boy was seen shouting, “Be ready for your death rituals if you won’t live in our land quietly. Be ready with rice flakes to fill your mouth, if you won’t live quietly (For Hindus). Be ready to burn amber in your home if you won’t live quietly (For Christians).” This came as a direct threat to the Hindu and Christian population living in Kerala, with PFI warning the death penalty if they don’t fall in line.
Further, the boy said, “We are coming, we are your death. We won’t go to Pakistan or Bangladesh, you have to live here as we say, or else we know how to make you live quietly, we will kill you even if we are attacked. We take pride in being a martyr, we salute them. If you won’t live quietly, we know how to ask for ‘Azadi’. Be prepared for your death,” the PFI members shouted after the boy in Malayalam.