Mangaluru : CPI (M) central committee member and former MP P Karunakaran on Tuesday December 24 said that the protest turning violent in Mangaluru seemed to be ‘pre-planned’ by the police, who he blamed for mishandling the situation.

Addressing a press meet here in the city, Karunakaran said, “Protests also took place in Bengaluru, but no such incident (of violence) happened there. Two innocent people who were not a part of the protest died during Mangaluru protests, and eight have sustained serious injuries and are admitted to hospital. Former mayor Ashraf was also injured.

“Police did not take any measures to warn the crowd. They could have clearly communicated, fired in the air. However, they directly fired at the protesters. This is a serious issue and judicial probe is necessary, as it seems to be pre-planned. Stringent action needs to be taken against the cop responsible for the incident,” he said.

Referring to the arrest of Kerala journalists on the day of curfew, he said, “We condemn the arrest of Kerala journalists. Action has to be taken against the police for this.”

Rajya Sabha MP K K Ragesh said, “We live in a democratic country and have the right to protest. This is a police sponsored violence. They have resorted to lathi charge unnecessarily, as they could have arrested the protesters. Instead of controlling the mob, they resorted to lathi-charge and instigated the violence.”

Responding to Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai’s statement that the violence was instigated by people from Kerala, Ragesh said, “One of the ministers has claimed the involvement of Kerala students in the protest. How can a minister deliver such an irresponsible statement? Not one Keralite was injured or was among the ones who are arrested. These people are dividing people on communal lines and on the basis of language. This is nothing but a breach of oath, and has to be looked into with a judicial probe.”

He urged people not to become ‘victims of RSS strategy’, and demanded the government to provide financial aid to the injured persons.

Rajya Sabha MP Elamara Kareem, MLA M Rajagopalan, MLA K Kunhiraman, former MLA C H Kunhambu and K R Jayananda were present.

A CPI(M)-led delegation visited the families of Jaleel and Nausheen who died during the protest, also the injured in the hospital.