Cane charge, arrests as Kerala’s Kiss in the Street programme defies police ban

Thiruvananthapuram: Riotous scenes were witnessed on Sunday as a second edition of the controversial Kiss of Love programme held in Kochi last month, was launched in Kozhikode.

Ahead of the event, the Kozhikode police commissioner announced there was no permission for the event, but that did not deter the supporters of the event, titled Kiss in the Street, from converging at the new bus stand in Kozhikode.

The Kiss in the Street protesters were opposed by the Hanuman Sena and in no time things went out of control, leading to police launching a cane charge and arrests of several Kiss in the Street protesters and activists of the Hanuman Sena.

As happened in Kochi last month, there were numerous onlookers, adding to the confusion at the scene and making things tougher for the police. The Kiss in the Street event was launched to protest against increasing incidences of moral policing in the state.

Dozens of people converged at the bus stand in Kozhikode ahead of the protest despite the police ban and warning that protesters would be forcefully removed if they gathered around the bus stand in large groups. The protesters brought traffic to a crawl in Kozhikode city well ahead of the scheduled protest time of 3pm.

Protesters gathered on the streets after having exchanged communication on social media over a few weeks leading up to Sunday’s event.

The home page of the Kiss in the Street event exhorted those who could not make it to Sunday’s event to “engage in kissing, wherever you are and stopping whatever you are doing at 3pm on Sunday”.

Supporters of the event posted dozens of messages on social media, including comments like “When fascism exists like a shadow, even drinking tea is a revolution”, and “When love is prohibited and kissing is declared a sin, just kiss and you will be reborn a revolutionary”.

Countering the supporters of Kiss in the Street, a poster appeared under the name of the Hanuman Sena (Bharat) district committee, warning that it would carry out a nudity exhibition of those who carried out a kissing protest.