Fishermen’s killing: Protests demanding arrest of ship captain

Kochi :Cutting across political affiliations, various fishermen organisations in Kerala propose launching a protest, starting Tuesday, demanding the immediate arrest of the captain of the Italian vessel “Enrica Lexie”, whose security officials shot dead two Indian fishermen.

As the first step to express their strong resentment against “the dastardly act”, the activists would stage a protest here, and at Kollam and Kochi Tuesday, said T. Peter, president of the Kerala Swatantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation, while addressing reporters here.

“At Kochi, it would be a novel protest when our members would surround the Italian vessel, which is now berthed in the outer sea,” said Peter.

The Kerala police late Sunday night recorded the arrest of the two security officials Latorre Massimillano and Salvatore Girone, and the statements of the 24 members in the ship.

“The arrest of the captain of the ship is a must, and at no cost should the ship be released. If there is any move to release the vessel and the captain, we will not allow it. We also demand that the authorities should see that adequate compensation be given to the families of the two victims,” added Peter.

Two fishermen, Ajesh Binki, 25, from Tamil Nadu and Gelastine, 45, from Kerala, were mistaken as pirates and shot dead by the crew of the Italian cargo vessel Wednesday evening, about 14 nautical miles off Alappuzha.