Congress protest: Police attacked KC Venugopal; broke Chidambaram's rib, alleges Surjewala
New Delhi, Jun 13: The Congress on Monday alleged that the Delhi police made a "murderous attack" on its leader K C Venugopal and others during their protest march taken out in solidarity with Rahul Gandhi, with P Chidambaram and Pramod Tiwari sustaining hairline fractures in their ribs.
Gandhi on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a money laundering case pertaining to the National Herald newspaper-Association Journals case.
Thousands of Congress workers carried out protest marches in the national capital as well as state capitals against the ED action on the former Congress president.
Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that some other Congress leaders also sustained injuries as Delhi police beat them up and detained thousands of its workers since last night.
"Atrocities of Delhi police and Modi government have not stopped. They have made a murderous attack on AICC general secretary Organisation K C Venugopal and have mercilessly beaten up Delhi in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil with lathis.
See the atrocities of Delhi police that former Home Minister and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was also roughed up and his rib was broken and his spectacles were found broken on the road outside AICC office," Surjewala alleged in a video message.
Does the Modi government not know on how to treat a former Home minister of the country? he asked.
The Congress leader also alleged that another Rajya Sabha MP, Pramod Tiwari, was thrown on the road and his rib was fractured.
Both Chidambaram and Tiwari have sustained hair-line fractures, he claimed.
"When three big, burly policemen crash into you, you are lucky to get away with a suspected hairline crack! Doctors have said that if there is a hairline crack, it will heal by itself in about 10 days. I am fine and I will go about my work tomorrow," Chidambaram also tweeted.
Surjewala alleged that the Modi government has crossed every limit of barbarism. "Is this a democracy?" he said.
"The entire day has passed, the attack continues... A deadly attack was launched on Congress Organisation General Secretary KC Venugopal by targeting him... Democracy has been trampled. The country will not forgive the Modi government," Surjewala said in a tweet in Hindi.
The Congress leader asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi how much more atrocities he was going to commit.
Surjewala, who too was detained by the police, said the party will not bow down to such tactics and will continue to work on path of democracy .
"You can beat them and commit atrocities on them, but the Modi government has reminded everyone of the British regime. The Congress fought with the British and will now fight against you till democracy wins," he said.
Videos and pictures of Venugopal being dragged by Delhi police and later sitting in a police station in a haggard state emerged on social media during the day.
AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also met Venugopal later at the Tughlaq road Police Station, where Harish Rawat, former Uttarakhand chief minister, was also present.
Meanwhile, BJYM, the youth wing of the BJP, mocked Indian Youth Congress president B V Srinivas by sharing on Twitter a video of him running away from the police as he was being accosted by them.
The 30-second-long video showed Srinivas giving a byte to media earlier in the day in which he is saying We do not fear the police and will carry out a march.
The jibe was rebutted by Srinivas through another video he posted on his Twitter account that showed him resisting arrest and in the process getting roughed up by the police.
He captioned the video: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win - Mahatma Gandhi. Srinivas too was detained by the police.
मोदी सरकार बर्बरता की हर हद पार कर गई।
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) June 13, 2022
पूर्व गृह मंत्री, श्री पी.चिदंबरम के साथ पुलिस की धक्कामुक्की हुई, चश्मा ज़मीन पर फेंका, उनकी बायीं पसलियों में हेयरलाइन फ्रैक्चर है।
सांसद प्रमोद तिवाड़ी को सड़क पर फेंका गया। सिर में चोट और पसली में फ्रैक्चर है।
क्या यह प्रजातंत्र है? pic.twitter.com/rRLOhIOTJ3
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
