Online Desk: Police in the southern state of Kerala used tear gas, water cannons, and lathis to disperse approximately 2,000 activists protesting the Waqf Amendment Act (UMEED). The protesters, including students, were on their way to block Kozhikode International Airport when the police crackdown occurred.

The police deployed heavy forces at the scene, utilising stun grenades, tear gas, and water cannons to control the crowd. This resulted in nearly 25 activists being injured, with many requiring medical attention at nearby hospitals, reports reaching here said late on Wednesday Muhammed Rabah, a Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) activist from Vypin in Ernakulam district, described the ordeal: “We were peacefully marching towards the airport when the police stopped us using barricades. They started beating us with lathis. One policeman struck my hand hard. Suddenly, they hurled tear gas at us.

I ran towards a nearby house as it became difficult for me to breathe. We washed our faces there,” The Observer Post quoted him as saying. On Tuesday, the Kerala Police had warned that vehicles coming for the protest would be seized. The protest event was inaugurated by All India Muslim Personal Law Board member and Jamaat-e-Islami Vice President Malik Mothasim Khan, who launched a blistering attack on the Waqf Act claiming that the law was detrimental to the Muslim community.

He said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was not only an enemy of Muslims but also Christians in the country. Calling the law unconstitutional, he praised the protesters for standing firm in the face of police brutality.

Addressing the protesters, SIO’s state chief Adv. Abdul Wahid said the RSS was pushing to establish a Hindu Rashtra (nation) by manipulating the bureaucracy, judiciary, and the media. He asserted the SIO’s determination to resist this at any cost. Drawing parallels between the recent police firing on protesters in Uttar Pradesh and the actions of the Kerala Police under the Left government, he remarked that both behaved similarly.

Dr Vinay Raj, Director of the Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society, urged the media to stop portraying all Christians as supporters of the bill simply because a few bishops have endorsed it. “We strongly condemn the brutal lathi-charge and the use of tear gas and water cannons on protestors opposing the Waqf Amendment Act, a protest organised by SIO and Solidarity Youth Movement Kerala. The CPM-led government and its police force have exposed the sheer hypocrisy of the state machinery,” reads the statement.

“This violent crackdown is a blatant attack on democratic dissent. We stand in unwavering solidarity with our cadre and all those courageously resisting this repression,” it added. Earlier, SIO had rejected the Waqf Amendment Bill calling it a state-sponsored assault on religious and charitable institutions of the Muslim community.