Thiruvananthapuram: As two women Bindu Ammini and Kanaak Durga were given permission by the CPI(M)-led Kerala government to enter the Sabarimala shrine, the Lord Ayyappa devotees were distressed and got onto the streets protesting the entry.

The protest turned violent from Wednesday, January 2 and the same situation continued on Thursday where some fringe elements vandalised the shops and forcefully shut down the businesses as well public transport in the city.

In the melee, media personnel who were on the spot covering the verbal spats between the police and the fringe groups, also faced heckling and abuse from the protestors.

A cameraperson of one of the regional media named Shailaja Abdul Rahman was seen covering the protest with tears.

She revealed that she got a kick on her back during the protest by the Sangh Parivar.

Shailaja was given an assignment to cover the reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on two women under the age of 50 who had entered the Sabarimala shrine.

She said that she was threatened with dire consequences, if she kept her camera rolling. Inspite of this, she bravely kept her camera rolling to capture the tension.

Shailaja has expressed her reactions on how she was treated by some of the protestors. She said that she had suffered injuries on her neck and the kick that she got on her back was very painful.

Moments within her photograph of capturing the scenes on camera in tears was posted on a social media, it has taken the netizens by storm.

Some of them commented saying that they were not “protestors” but “goons.”