The hartal called by the Sabarimala Karma Samathi (SKS) to protest the entry of women to the hill shrine caught Kerala in a maelstrom of political violence that left scores injured, disrupted life in general, and resulted in wanton destruction of public and private property across the State on Thursday.
The State-wide stand-off between the BJP supporters and CPI(M) activists sparked off violent street protests that staggered on throughout the day with tit-for-tat attacks on party offices and homes of party workers.
A palpable nervousness hung over most parts of Kerala as the intensity of the violence caught the citizenry off-guard. Ordinarily busy streets were devoid of people or traffic. Shops remained closed, and public transport vehicles remained off the road.
Commuters stranded
The hartal caught long-distance commuters from other States unplanned, and many remained stranded at bus stations and railway terminals finding it hard pressed to reach their destinations.
The KSRTC, which suffered sizeable losses, an estimated 79 buses were damaged across Kerala, had drastically scaled down operations. The police operated skeletal services to cart patients and their helpers to hospitals.
The police said Palakkad, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur bore the brunt of the violence.
In Palakkad, the police lobbed tear gas shells and swung batons to disperse BJP and CPM workers who fought each other with sticks and stones on the street.
Vehicles damaged
Belligerent workers vandalised each other’s party offices and damaged parked vehicles.
In Thrissur, the hartal threatened to assume an ominous communal colour when Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) workers stabbed three BJP activists who attempted to close a hotel run by a minority community member forcibly.
In Kozhikode, hartal supporters stormed the historic Mittai Theruvu, Sweet Meat Street, and attacked traders who had dared to open shops against their diktat.
SKS workers went on rampage
The police made a vain attempt to prevent SKS workers who went on the rampage, smashing shop windows, throwing wares out onto the street and wrecking private vehicles parked on the road.
The city and suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram were caught up in a vortex of street violence, disruptive street protests and retaliatory attacks on party offices and residences of party leaders.
The suburbs of Nedumangadu and Malayankeezhu witnessed pitched battles between BJP and CPM workers. The police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the mobs.
Anonymous persons exploded a cracker near the local stations. Persons suspected to be CPI(M) workers vandalised the houses of three Municipal counsellors in the Nedumangadu. Several police officers were injured. Strike supporters stoned buses in Neyyatinkara.
Journalists not spared
They turned their ire against journalists in Thiruvananthapuram, injuring a few and damaging their cameras. The BJP activists manhandled reporters covering their march in front of the Government Secretariat.
They destroyed CPI(M) party symbols and flags in the city. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) called for a boycott of BJP events and held a march to protest the violence against their members.
The police said SKS workers attacked a CPM office in Alangadu in Kochi. Strike supporters burned down a newly inaugurated CPM office in Thanavooor in Malappuram and destroyed a CPM-run library in Vennakkara in Palakkad.
Police register cases
The Kerala police have registered 559 cases in connection with the violence. They have moved for mass arrests. The police have detained at least 745 persons, an overwhelming number of them BJP workers, on charges of rioting, arson, unlawful assembly, illegal use of explosives, assaulting law enforcers on duty, destruction of public property and attempting to create enmity between communities among other sections.
At least 628 are in preventive custody. Officers said at least 79 law enforcers were injured in the violence, chiefly from stone-throwing and while trying to break-up skirmishing factions. Strike supporters damaged at least seven police vans.