Detained scribes released in Mangaluru after Pinarayi writes to Yediyurappa

At least six journalists working for various Kerala-based media houses, who were detained while covering protests against the amended Citizenship Act in Mangaluru on Friday (December 20) morning, were released in the afternoon, police said.

However, reports suggest at least 20 journalists, all working for media outlets in Kerala, were taken into custody by the police in Mangaluru. They said two were let off after Kerala Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan took up the matter with the Karnataka authorities.

Sources said the police were turning away non-Tulu or Kannada speaking journalists from the scene. Journalists present on the scene said the police had forcibly sent away journalists saying they wanted “no Bengaluru journalists and other-state ones” around.

In a tweet on Friday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said necessary measures must be implemented to ensure the safety of Malayali journalists who were working in Mangaluru.

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“Necessary measures must be put in place to ensure the safety of Malayalee journalists who went for reporting in Mangaluru. The State police chief is in touch with the Karnataka police. We strongly condemn the sly methods employed to malign journalists,” he said.

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Earlier in the day, he had said in a Facebook post that DGP Lokanath Behera was in touch with his counterpart to ensure the release of all the journalists arrested while they were covering the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests which rocked Karnataka and the rest of the country on December 20.

Vijayan said it was unacceptable to portray journalists as miscreants and their news-gathering equipment as ‘weapons.’ The chief minister’s post came after tweets emerged saying ‘fake journalists’ had entered Karnataka.

The chief minister also wrote a letter to his Karnataka counterpart BS Yediyurappa, requesting him to direct the police to free the detained journalists.

Two people were killed in police firing in Mangaluru on Thursday and the police came down hard on restive crowds and often used extreme force on random people going about their business. Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai had stated Keralites were behind the protests in Karnataka.

(With inputs from agencies)