Barring stray incidents, situation in curfew clamped M’luru peaceful

Team Udayavani, Dec 21, 2019, 10:19 AM IST

Mangaluru: A day after Mangaluru was rocked by violent protests against the CAA, leaving two dead in police firing, the situation in the curfew clamped city was peaceful on Friday, barring stray incidents of violence.

The situation in Bengaluru and other parts of the state, where prohibitory orders are in place, was also peaceful with no major protests taking place on Friday.

Roads in Mangaluru wore a deserted look and educational institutions were closed, officials said, adding that the situation was likely to continue on Saturday as well. However, stray incidents of stone pelting and attempts to protest against Thursday’s killing were reported from some places in and around Mangaluru, which police contained by baton charging them.

Meanwhile, the mortal remains of the two men were handed over to their family members for the last rites amid tight security after post-mortem, police sources said.

Entry for those from Kerala to Mangaluru, where curfew has been clamped till December 22 midnight, was restricted at the Talappady border as police checked identity cards before allowing them in emergency cases. Eight journalists and camera crew of Kerala-based TV channels, who had interviewed relatives of those killed in the police firing during protests were released and taken to Talappady bordering Kerala, seven hours after being detained by police in front of the Government Wenlock hospital on Friday, sources said.

A top police official informed the scribes that only those with Karnataka accreditation should report from there in the given situation. On the other hand, a delegation of senior Congress leaders who landed in Mangaluru to meet those injured and bereaved families of the two deceased in the violent protests were denied permission and detained at the airport here.

The delegation included Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council S R Patil, former Home Minister and MLA M B Patil, former Speaker and MLA K R Ramesh Kumar and former MP V S Ugrappa. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also had to cancel his trip to Mangaluru from Bengaluru on getting information that the chartered aircraft he was to take was denied permission to land at the airport.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah, who held a press conference in the city, demanded a high-level probe by a sitting High Court judge into the police firing, in which two men were killed. Terming the killing as “inhuman”, he alleged that the incident indicated that police themselves incited violence and the BJP government in the state was trying to reap political dividends by causing communal clashes.

Reacting sharply to the charge, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said that Siddaramaiah, being a former CM and one who has political experience, should know the reality, which was that it was Congress who instigated violence. The Chief Minister said he along with Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai would leave for Mangaluru on Saturday to know facts about why golibar happened and what was the situation.

“After going there and assessing the situation I will discuss and take a decision on the compensation to be given to the family members of the deceased,” he added. Yediyurappa on Friday evening also chaired a meeting of top police officials, along with the Home Minister.

Speaking to reporters later, he said officials have been directed to concentrate on maintaining law and order and ensure that there was no untoward incident. In Bengaluru, that witnessed large-scale protests on Thursday, police succeeded in implementing prohibitory orders by not allowing any massive protests to take place on Friday.

Police also succeeded in convincing some leaders of the Muslim community against taking out a procession, reminding them about abiding by prohibitory orders. The Karnataka government had issued a notification on Thursday night, prohibiting mobile internet data service of all service providers for the next 48 hour in the jurisdiction of Mangaluru City and Dakshina Kannada district.