Vehicular traffic on the busy Kozhikode-Wayanad Road was disrupted for around an hour as Youth Congress activists took out a rally to the district collectorate here on Monday seeking the resignation of Health Minister Veena George holding her responsible for the death of a woman in the recent building collapse at Government Medical College Hospital, Kottayam.
The rally, which began from Eranhipalam, reached the collectorate premises around 11:45 a.m. Soon after District Congress Committee president K. Praveenkumar delivered his inaugural speech. Youth Congress activists raised slogans against Ms. George and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. They also tried to pull down the police barricades placed near the collectorate entrance. However, the police prevented their attempts. In the meanwhile, some of them were seen destroying a flex board on a district panchayat-sponsored campaign against substance abuse showing Mr. Vijayan’s photo. Thereafter, when the activists tried to forcibly enter the collectorate premises, water cannons were sprayed on them.
The Youth Congress members were in no mood to relent as they soon rushed to the adjacent Wayanad road and tried to block the vehicular traffic there. Except a couple of ambulances, all the vehicles were either blocked or diverted through nearby service roads. The protesters also entered into heated arguments with the police, who tried to take them into custody. Meanwhile, a few Youth Congress activists rolled down a police barricade and placed it in the middle of the road. When the police vehicle carrying the workers in custody started leaving the premises, other activists tried to block it as well. Some other people were seen staging a sit-in on the road. By around 1 p.m., all the protesters left the area.
