As the crowd surged shortly before 5.30 p.m., Mahima and Manoj found themselves on a boundary wall at Marine Drive, wedged between the backwaters and the protestors. The couple, residing in Kochi, arrived here to make a point.
“We came here to join the protests for the freedom of expression, but these hooligans would not let us do anything,” Manoj said, shortly after the police asked him to leave the venue.
The two youngsters were among a gathering of hundreds who swarmed the Marine Drive on Sunday evening for the Kiss of Love event, staged in protest against the attack on a coffee shop in Kozhikode by a group of people who criticised the public display of affection by some couples there.
The event, which marked a break from conventional protests on freedom of expression, evoked a huge response with people even from far away places coming to witness it.
A couple of them managed to hold their kissing demonstrations as planned despite heavy security measures and opposing groups trying to break up the event. They, however, faced strong police mobilization as officers tried to disburse protesters from sharing their kisses.
Alongside, several pro-Hindu as well as pro-Muslim outfits and a couple of other organisations, staged counter-protests and chanted slogans. Police forces had to intervene to prevent further clashes.
But a few who appeared as the wave of protests subsided hugged and kissed amidst the rousing crowd even as the counter-protesters tried to break in.
The tension eventually snowballed into lathi-charging with the police resorting to the use of force to disburse the crowd. The clashes lasted for nearly an hour and the police finally succeeded in taking out all the protesters outside the venue and locked up the gates.
