Kerala hartal: Widespread incidents of violence hit normal life

Widespread incidents of violence and stone-pelting marred the dawn-to-dusk shutdown called by the Sabarimala Karma Samiti in Kerala on Thursday, even as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan flayed the Sangh Parivar outfits for disrupting law and order situation in the state. The police clashed with protesters who tried to force shut business that opened on hartal day. 

Police resorted to lathicharge after scores of agitators turned up at the famed SM Street of Kozhikode. Several shops and business establishments have been vandalised. The traders had earlier decided to open the shops even on the hartal day. Media personnel, too, were attacked by hartal sympathisers. DGP Loknath Behera has ordered the attack on mediapersons. He has asked district police chiefs to form special grougroups to probe the incidents of violence.

State-run KSRTC buses, which were pelted with stones during the violence on Wednesday by anti-women entry agitators, kept away from roads in many districts.

Adding to the woes of the public, number of autorickshaws plying were very less. A large number of passengers, including women and children, were seen stranded at bus stands and railway stations across the state.

A 64-year old woman, Pathumma from Wayanad who came for treatment at the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) here, collapsed and died at the railway station here in the morning, following which her relatives alleged that a delay in getting ambulance service resulted in her death. Shops and hotels remained closed in the state capital.

The BJP is supporting the shutdown while the Congress-led UDF is observing a "black day" on Thursday.

A large number of protesters were arrested in various districts in connection with the violent incidents but the police is yet to divulge the total number of people arrested across the state.

At least 22 people were arrested in Malappuram and 12 in Kannur in connection with violence Wednesday night and this morning, police said.

Meanwhile, the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala witnessed a heavy rush of devotees despite the hartal and road blocks in the morning, shrine sources said. 

Various universities, including Kerala, Mahatma Gandhi, Calicut and Kannur have postponed their examinations scheduled for Thursday. 

In Kozhikode and Kannur, protesters blocked vehicles and burnt tyres in the morning. Several CPI(M) offices were attacked as agitators went on a rampage across Kerala. Hartal supporters set on fire the building of EMS Memorial Library in Vennakkara, Palakkad, during the wee hours of Thursday. 

The CPI(M) office in Thavanur, Malappuram, was also set on fire on Wednesday night. However, auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers were plying at the railway station in the state capital and various other places. 

Condemning the widespread violence, CM Vijayan said this was the fifth state-wide hartal called by the BJP over the Sabarimala issue. He also said that the

police were merely doing their duty when they took the two women to Sabarimala.

Tension was reported along the Kerala-Karnataka border with incidents of stones pelting. Manjeshwaram CPI(M) area committee office was vandalised. Several people were injured in the violence. Bandiyod, Uppala were the worst affected regions.

A bomb was hurled near the Nedumangad police station in Thiruvananthapuram. Kottayam was relatively peaceful though stray incidents of violence were reported. A CITU office in Changanassery was vandalised. Stones were hurled at CPI(M) office in Pambady.

Meanwhile, the post mortem report of Sabarimala Karma Samiti worker Chandran Unnithan said he had died of injuries suffered on his head. As per the autopsy, his head had suffered several blows and the skull was broken. He had earlier undergone a heart surgery.