The Congress' student wing KSU on Tuesday took out a march to the Kerala Assembly here in protest against the alleged shortage of seats for plus one (class 11) admissions, especially in the northern Malabar region.

Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan, who inaugurated the protest, alleged that the state government was neglecting the issue faced by thousands of class 11 students.

Satheesan also raised the issue of CPI(M)'s student wing, Students Federation of India (SFI), allegedly attacking members of rival organisations inside university and college campuses.

The Kerala Students Union (KSU) activists marched towards the Assembly, climbed on top of the barricades set up by the police and shouted slogans against the Left government and state General Education Minister V Sivankutty.

The police then resorted to using water cannons to disperse the protestors, but the KSU activists did not budge and were seen throwing sticks at the police.

The protest turned violent when protestors clashed with the police personnel, resulting in the use of lathi-charge against the activists, who had turned up in large numbers.

KSU state president Aloshious Xavier was reportedly injured in the lathi charge and was taken to the hospital in a police vehicle.

After the use of lathicharge, the protestors ran in several directions with the police chasing them.

The Left government has been facing flak over the alleged shortage of plus-one seats in schools in northern Kerala with the opposition accusing the state administration of failing to resolve the issue.

Opposition student outfits, mainly the KSU and the Muslim Students' Federation (MSF), have been staging protests across the state for some time, slamming the government over its failure to ensure enough seats for qualified students in Malappuram.

The Kerala government, on the other hand, claimed that there was no shortage of plus-one seats at all. Minister Sivankutty had pointed out that thousands of seats remain vacant every year after admissions are completed in the region.

Later on June 25, the government decided to allot an additional plus-one batch in schools of Malappuram to resolve the northern district's seat shortage issue.

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