Flash hartal hits life in Kannur

The undeclared hartal on Monday in response to a call on the social media by an unidentified collective, in protest against the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl at Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, yielded a near-total response here. Shops mostly remained closed and road traffic was affected in some parts.

Most commercial establishments, including some banks, downed shutters when hartal supporters took to the streets. Restaurants, barring the Indian Coffee House, were also closed. Private buses were forced to stop normal service.

Commotion at station

The call drew a near total response at Taliparamba where traders were forced to close shops. The Kannur Town police station witnessed commotion when the police brought arrested hartal supporters to the station. Another group of supporters marched to the police station demanding their release, but the police dispersed them. When the arrested hartal supporters shouted slogans inside the station the police put two of them in lock-up. Nearly 30 hartal supporters were arrested by the Kannur Town police, the police said.

“The source of the hartal call is under investigation now,” said Kannur Deputy Superintendent of Police P.P. Sadanandan. Some of the slogans raised by hartal supporters here were communally provocative, he said, adding that they did not appear to have the backing of any organisation. The police sprang to action in the morning when reports of hartal supporters stopping vehicles and forcing traders to close shops started coming in.

March out of nowhere

Taliparamba witnessed a flash march in the evening in which hundreds of people participated. The unannounced march took the police unawares. The protesters dispersed peacefully without any public address by its leaders.

The police said workers of the Social Democratic Party of India and the Indian Union Muslim League were among those present. The protesters could have assembled through campaign in the social media, the police said.