Clashes erupt during music concert at Kozhikode beach; over 70 people injured

 

Kozhikode: Major clashes erupted during a music concert at Kozhikode beach on Sunday evening, in which over 70 persons were injured. The injured include cops, students and the locals. They were admitted to Govt Beach hospital, Govt Medical College and other private hospitals in the city.

The clash broke out during the music concert organised by the Pain and Palliative Care unit of JDT Islam College for collecting funds. As part of palliative fund collection, ‘555 The Rain Fest’ was conducted here for the last three days. A huge rush was witnessed in Kozhikode beach on Sunday evening for the music concert, for which tickets were sold online. The tickets were also sold at the venue before the start of a renowned musical band. Kozhikode beach is usually crowded during holidays.

The programme was planned to be conducted at a temporary stage set up on a corner of the beach. The palliative care unit had organised the programme to raise funds to purchase a caravan. However, the venue could not occupy such a huge number of people. Those who purchased tickets rushed to get inside, which was blocked by the police and volunteers. The crowd attempted to shove the cops and sparked a brawl on the beach.

Some violent men were found hurling stones and sand at the police, which provoked the latter. When police charged at the crowd with lathis, people scattered and ran away. The crowd rushed inside the venue pushing the barricades and many people fell caught in the skirmish. Policemen Jigin Ganesh, EV Athul, Subhash, Jitesh and K Babeesh were also injured in the attack.

Police informed that a few people collapsed after experiencing difficulty in breathing. Meanwhile, the crowd did not spare student volunteers either. Later, several top officials, including city police chief A Akbar, deputy police commissioner A Sreenivasan, city control room assistant commissioner MC Kunjumoyin Kutty, Medical College assistant commissioner K Sudarsan and city special branch assistant commissioner A Umesh rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.