Eight injured in political clashes in Kerala

At least eight persons were injured in two separate incidents of political violence allegedly involving workers of CPI(M), RSS and RMP in the district, police said today.

Both the incidents took place yesterday, they said.

In the first incident, the CPI(M) and RSS activists clashed after the marxist party workers were attacked in Puliancherry near Koyilandy.

Five CPI(M) party workers and three women workers of BJP were injured.

The CPI(M) today observed a 12-hour hartal to protest the attack on its workers.

In another incident, the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) office at Orkatteri village near Vadakara, about 48 kms from here, was attacked and ransacked by a group people allegedly belonging to the CPI(M), they added.

The trouble began after an argument between an auto driver and an RMP activist, police said.

In the ensuing clash between the CPI(M) and RMP workers, several vehicles and houses in the area close to the RMP office were damaged in stone pelting.

Meanwhile, as many as 18 RMP cadres, including its state secretary N Venu were taken into preventive custody, police said, adding details about the exact number of persons injured could be known only later.

To condemn the attack on the party office, a dawn-to-dusk hartal was observed by RMP workers today.