Kiss of love campaign peters out in Kerala after pressure from authorities

Kochi: The much-hyped Kiss of Love drive against moral cops, spearheaded by a group of netizens, at Marine Drive in Kochi on Sunday, ended in a whimper with the police rounding up 30 campaigners minutes before the event, but the small band, outnumbered by spectators and protesters, stood their ground.

The sprawling Marine Drive Grounds swelled with lumpen protesters in anticipation of a kissing spree. Activists of Shiva Sena, Bajrang Dal SDPI and Campus Front marched to the venue, shouting slogans and declaring their intention to stop the event by any means. The protestor’s main grouse was that kissing in public was against cultural values and tradition of the country.

However, a group managed to dodge the police and reached the Marine Drive where they started kissing each other, including intimate lip-lock kissing by couples.

Soon the extremist outfit activists opposing the campaign barged into the scene and began to attack the supporters. The lovers threw pepper-spray at the attackers and the cops indulged in lathicharge to disperse the protesters. The extremists also targeted some women members.

The activists spearheading the ‘Kiss of Love’ campaign assembled before Law College to march towards the Marine Drive. A huge contingent of police blocked their way and asked them to disperse to avoid a law and order problem. As the activists refused to heed the advice, the police took them into preventive custody.

“We took 30 of the organizers and their supporters from the Ernakulam Law College premises into preventive custody at 4.30 p.m. as the situation was going out of hand. No charges were registered against them as we did it for their own safety,” Kochi Police Commissioner K.G. James said.

Earlier, thousands turned up at the Marine Drive and nearby premises by 3.30 p.m., a majority of them onlookers who arrived to witness the kissing.