A dawn-to-dusk 12-hour hartal called by Hindu outfits began on Thursday morning in protest against the entry of two women of menstruating age into the Sabarimala temple of Lord Ayyappa.

As per initial reports, auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers were plying at the railway station in the State capital and various other places. But in Kozhikode, protesters blocked vehicles and burnt tyres in the morning. The hartal, which began at 6 a.m., has been called by Sabarimala Karma Samithi, an umbrella organisation of various pro-Hindutva groups, spearheading protests against the Supreme Court’s September 28 verdict, and Antarrashtriya Hindu Parishad (AHP). The BJP is supporting the shutdown while the Congress-led UDF is observing a “black day” on Thursday. - PTI

Hartal hits life in Kozhikode, one injured

Five suspected Sabarimala Karma Samiti workers were arrested for forcibly closing shops on the S.M. Street in Kozhikode district. Police fired tear gas shells to disperse the activists who locked horn with the traders and tried to vandalise the shops.

The attempt of traders to keep their shops open in an attempt to resist the hartal call too did not succeed amidst the protest of the hartal supporters. The glass door of a hotel that was kept open at Omassery, defying the hartal call, was destroyed in heavy stone pelting. Police said protection would be offered to all traders who wanted to carry out the trade as usual.

Tension prevailed in the area as a group of DYFI activists staged a demonstration on the street, expressing solidarity with the traders and their move to open the shops.

Activists of the Sabarimala Karma Samiti and various Sangh Parivar outfits blocked National and State highways in various parts of Kozhikode district.

In many of the rural areas, the hartal supporters had blocked the roads using abandoned tyres and wooden pieces. At Thiruvambadi, a madrasa teacher who did not notice the blocked road with waste materials during his bike ride fell on the road and sustained serious injuries. The man was found unconscious on the road and was later admitted to a private hospital in the city.

To facilitate uninterrupted travel, the police used their patrol vehicles to clear many of the city roads. Some of the BJP activists who were suspected of blocking the roads also were taken into custody.

- Mithosh Joseph reports from Kozhikode

Hartal hits public life in Kochi

Public life was partially crippled in Kochi but private vehicles were seen plying on the National Highway stretch that runs through the city as well as the interior roads, though the vehicles of the public transport system kept off the road. Though a few shop owners, who defied the hartal call opened their shops in some parts of the city during the morning hours, they had to down the shutters after the BJP activists forced them to.

Some of the shops remained open in the Broadway and no untoward incidents were reported, police said.

BJP activists took out protest marches in different parts of the district. Marches were taken out from High Court junction to Kaloor in the morning. Party workers also organised rallies at Kumbalam, Panangad and eastern parts of the district. However, no law and order issue was reported from the district, police said.

Hartal supporters block a road in Kaloor, Kochi   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Varappuzha police arrested five persons for blocking road and registered a case invoking non-bailable charges against more identifiable men who burnt tyres on the road before fleeing the scene.

Two persons were taken into custody for trying to block road by burning tyres near Aluva KSRTC garage. Three others including a BJP office bearer was arrested on Wednesday night in connection with assaulting a woman special branch officer on duty at Vadakkekkara.

The Vypeen-Fort Kochi Roll On and Roll Off service of the Kochi Corporation operated as usual.

Congress workers too took out a protest march from the District Congress Committee office to Menaka junction.

- Reports K.S. Sudhi from Kochi

Violent protests in Kerala, Karnataka SRTC stops 80 services

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has cancelled 80 trips to Kerala due to the ongoing harthal.

Airavata Club Class bus operated by Mangaluru Division with broken windows following stone-pelting   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The Mangaluru division has cancelled 40 trips to various destinations in Kerala after incidents of stone pelting at KSRTC  buses reported in Kasargod. Mysuru Rural and Puttur divisions have  cancelled 33 trips.  Two trips each from Bengaluru Central, Hassan and Chikkamagaluru were also stopped. 

- Reports our Karnataka correspondent

No early SC hearing for contempt petition against Tantri

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court declined early hearing to the contempt petition filed against SabarimalaTemple Tantri for performing the purification process after 2 women entered the temple on Wednesday.

"We have kept the date as January 22," said the Chief Justice of India. "We have arranged our schedules for that, so we will hear it then," he said.

- Reports our legal correspondent Krishnadas Rajagopal from New Delhi

Hartal near total in Kannur; marred by isolated incidents

The State-wide is near total in Kannur, paralysing normal life. Isolated incidents of attacks by hartal supporters have been reported from different parts of the district. Shops and commercial establishments remained closed here and public transport vehicles, including KSRTC buses, were off the roads. Police vehicles were used to help stranded passengers at the Kannur railway station.

Pink police vehicle helping stranded passengers at the Kannur railway station   | Photo Credit: S.K. Mohan

A vehicle of Thanalveedu Charitable Trust was attacked at Thalikkavu here near the district office of the Bharatiya Janata Party at around 10 a.m. The vehicle was on its way to take a staff of the trust at Mele Chovva. The vehicle was completely damaged. A staff of the trust, who was in the vehicle when the attack took place, said that the hartal supporters deflated tyres and smashed glasses. They also took away the ignition key of the vehicle and mobile phones.

Two goods auto rickshaws of the Chirakkal panchayat were also damaged by hartal supporters late last night. A restaurant near the railway station here also came under attack.

- Reports Mohammed Nazeer from Kannur

KSRTC yet to commence services

Hundreds who depend on fleet of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation had been hit as the State transport undertaking had not not been able to operate services on Thursday due to the dawn-to-dusk hartal.

Though the police had extended escort if services are operated, the KSRTC is keeping fingers crossed as 80-odd buses were damaged across the State on Wednesday in the State-wide violence following entry of two child bearing women into Sabarimala Ayyappa temple.

The services were suspended from 10 p.m. last night. No service has operated from the central bus station of the KSRTC in Thiruvanthapuram. However, chain services of KSRTC is plying in Nilackal-Pampa-Nilackal corridor to the much relief of Sabarimala devotees.

A luxury bus of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation was damaged in stone pelting near CRPF camp at Pallipuram along NH 66 today morning. No one was injured in the incident. The bus was on its way from Mysuru to the State capital.

The bus of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation that was damaged in stone pelting near CRPF camp at Pallipuram in Thiruvananthapuram   | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

No other incident of attack on stage carriers had been reported in first three hours of hartal.

- Reports S. Anil Radhakrishnan from Thiruvananthapuram

In Malappuram, A CPI(M) branch committee office was set on fire allegedly by the Sangh Parivar activists at Tavanur as the hartal evoked sharp response across the district.

Public transport vehicles are keeping off the road, but autorickshaws, cars and bikes are plying.

Police arrested two BJP workers for blocking the road at Manjeri. Although traders said they would function as usual, their shops are yet to open.

Protests erupt after two women enter Sabarimala

Two women, Kanakadurga (44) and Bindu (42), created history be stepping into the hallowed precincts guarded by police three months after the Supreme Court’s historic judgement lifting the ban on entry of girls and women between 10 and 50 years of age into the shrine of Lord Ayyappa, its “eternally celibate” deity.

As the news spread like wildfire from the hill shrine, protests erupted at several places, with Hindu right-wing activists blocking highways and forcing closure of shops and markets.

BJP and CPI(M) workers clashed in front of the Secretariat for over five hours Wednesday as police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them.

A 55-year-old man, who was seriously injured in stone throwing at Pandalam, died late Wednesday night.

Merchants’ organisations have said they would not cooperate with the hartal and keep shops and business establishments open.

Meanwhile, state DGP Loknath Behara has warned of strict action against those indulging in violence during the hartal.

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