Karnataka cops release video of protesters with stones

Five days after a violent protest in Karnataka’s Mangaluru against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) resulted in the death of two men in police firing, the police released video clips purportedly showing protesters carrying stones in an auto trolley, hurling them at the security personnel and trying to destroy CCTV cameras.

The clips also showed protesters covering their faces with cloth to conceal their identities. The video footage of the protest that took place on December 19 was released on Monday night after the opposition Congress and the Janata Dal(Secular), or JDS, claimed that innocent people had died in the police firing.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s state chief Nalin Kumar Kateel said the footage was a “stark reminder of violent protests in Kashmir as youth in large number hit the streets and started throwing stones at the police”.

“It was only when the things went out of hand that police opened fire,” Kateel said after inaugurating a day-long workshop on the CAA at the Karnataka BJP headquarters here.

Addressing reporters in the Congress office, party state president Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “The protesters had no choice but to cover their faces as police lobbed tear gas {shells}.”

In Mangaluru, Congress MLA U T Khader said it was the BJP fomenting trouble. Former CM and JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy questioned the authenticity of the videos. Chief minister B S Yediyurappa has already ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) enquiry into the Mangaluru incident.

In the order passed on Monday, the state government said it has appointed the Deputy Commissioner of Udupi district G Jagadish as the executive magistrate to inquire into the matter and submit a report within three months.

Meanwhile, in Kerala, where chief minister Yediyurappa has gone on a personal visit, some activists of the Student Federation of India and Democratic Youth Federation of India showed him black flags and also attempted to block his car in Kannur district on Tuesday.