Hindu right wing outfits, enraged over the closure of the Sabarimala temple for purification rituals following the entry of two women of childbearing age to the sanctum, unleashed violence across the State on Wednesday.
In Thiruvananthapuram, the police lobbed tear gas shells and used water cannons to break up a street fight between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] activists near the Secretariat. An officer, a few journalists and several BJP and CPI(M) workers were injured in the incident.
In Neyyattinkara, police skirmished with stone-throwing Sabarimala Karma Samithi (SKS) activists. BJP workers attempted to prevent Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s motorcade from entering the Secretariat.
Intelligence forecast
Senior officers privy to intelligence forecasts said Thursday’s hartal could be harsher than the five previous shut downs imposed by the SKS in close succession in the State since October, given the widespread violence witnessed on Wednesday.
The police said BJP workers destroyed CPI(M) party symbols in Thiruvananthapuram. A set of Mahila Morcha workers attempted to storm the Secretariat. At Pandalam, 10 persons were injured, four of them seriously, when stones were thrown at a rally taken out by Sabarimala protesters.
BJP workers smashed the windscreens of public transport buses in Palakkad. SKS workers vandalised the taluk office at Mavelikara. They forced the closure of shops and smashed wayside eateries.
Policeman injured
Similar incidents were reported from Thrissur, Guruvayur, and Kodungalloor. In Guruvayur, a police officer, Premanandan, was injured in stone throwing by BJP workers.
In Kasaragod, SKS workers laid siege to the house of Kanakadurga, one of the women who entered the temple, and damaged KSRTC buses in Perinthalmanna. The BJP staged a black flag protest against Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran in Guruvayur and gheraoed Law Minister A.K. Balan in Palakkad.
Mass arrests
SKS activists staged a march to the house of Travancore Devaswom Board president A. Padmakumar in Aranmula. The police have declared a State-wide alert and moved in for mass arrests of SKS workers suspected to be responsible for the acts of violence, chiefly the attack on Left Democratic Front (LDF) workers at Chettukundu in Kasaragod on Wednesday.
