KOCHI: The city on Monday witnessed a rarely seen form of protest, when several hundred vehicles plied the main thoroughfare with their headlights turned on, to express solidarity with a mass movement against the hartal culture. The protest was organised by the ‘Say No to Hartal’ group named which has been campaigning against shutdowns since 2010.
Raju P Nair, Say No To Hartal general convener, said the tremendous public response elicited by the campaign clearly shows the public is totally fed up with the arbitrary form of protest slapped on society under the garb of hartals.
A vehicle rally was staged in Ernakulam to mark the protest against hartals. The vehicle rally which commenced from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium passed through the entire city. Tourism stakeholders, ‘Lady Bullet Bike Riders - a city-based bikers’ club, and traders’ representatives took part. Several private transport buses and autorickshaws expressed their solidarity with the protesters by leaving their headlights on. The participants of the rally conducted an awareness programme at the Medical Trust Junction. Shashi Tharoor MP, MLAs V D Satheeshan and Hibi Eden, and industrialist Kochouseph Chittilappilly vowed their support for the campaign. Till Monday, the state has witnessed 97 hartals in 2018.