Isolated incidents involving supporters of the hartal against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) were reported from the Malabar region on December 17.
Incidents of stone-pelting at vehicles were reported in some parts of the region during the hartal called by various organisations, including the Social Democratic Party of India and the Welfare Party of India.
While educational institutions and offices were functioning normally in many parts of the region, shops and commercial establishments remained closed. The road blocks put up by hartal supporters in some parts of the region were removed by the police. The police also acted against supporters who forcibly tried to close down shops.
Even though the hartal was declared illegal, Kannur and Kasargod wore a deserted look as shops remained closed and most of the vehicles were off the road.
In Kannur, the supporters, including women, staged a road block. The protesters who gathered near the Kannur Caltex junction blocked the road, despite warning from police. Two women sat on the road shouting slogans against the CAA and demanded that they be allowed to protest. Later, with the help of women police personnel, the protesters were forcibly removed. The situation in Kasargod remained peaceful and only a few vehicle were seen on the road.
Supporters held in Kozhikode
In Kozhikode, the KSRTC is running intermittent services. The police have taken into custody a couple of supporters who tried to forcibly close shops and hotels in Kozhikode city. Very few private buses were seen on the roads.
In Malappuram district, normal life was affected as shops in most towns did not open and buses were keeping off the road. KSRTC buses, however, conducted services with police protection at Malappuram and Tirur.
Marches were taken out through towns in Malappuram and dozens of supporters have been taken into custody. Tension erupted at Manjeri when the supporters tried to forcibly close some shops. They blocked some private vehicles too at Manjeri.
Police at Malappuram said none would be allowed to take the law into their hands. Most schools in the district have been functioning. School buses were not stopped by the supporters. However, colleges were not functioning as private buses kept off the road.
The KSRTC depot in Palakkad town witnessed tension in the morning as supporters tried to stop services. Police dispersed the crowd by resorting to a lathicharge. No one was injured.
Private buses are keeping off the road in Palakkad. An inter-State bus at Walayar was damaged in stone-pelting. Police arrested many persons for trying to block the vehicles.
Shops remained closed by and large. Though schools were functioning, parents had a tense time in the morning sending their children to schools amid doubts, uncertainties and fears about the hartal. The situation was peacefully in the district, barring a few incidents of violence in some parts. In a few areas of the district, private buses and taxis stayed off the road, while people were seen riding two-wheelers and private vehicles.
In Wayanad district, the KSRTC operated 30 schedules from Sulthan Bathery depot in the morning. All the long route schedules, including the inter-State schedules, were operated with the help of police convoy so far, KSRTC authorities said. Shops and business establishments opened as usual in many parts of the district but the attendance was low in government offices.
No untoward incident was reported in the district so far, except one instance of the supporters destroying the windowpane of a KSRTC bus at Thettamala near Vellamunda in Wayanad district early in the morning, police department sources said.
The supporters were also trying to obstruct vehicles at Pulpally, Meppadi, Mananthavadi ,Vellamunda and Padinjarathara in the district As many as 23 persons were arrested under various Sections of the Preventive Detention Act so far, the sources added.
