KSRTC bus services from Pathanamthitta to Pampa have been suspended following multiple instances of mob violence in Nilakkal on Wednesday against the entry of women into the hill shrine.
The cancellation also comes in the light of a hartal on Thursday, called by the agitators protesting police action against their members.
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Women journalists were heckled, their vehicles smashed and young female Ayyappa devotees turned back as hordes of activists of Hindu fringe groups besieged the road leading to the temple, abode to Lord Ayyappa, its eternally celibate deity. At least 15 policemen, 10 media persons and five pilgrims were injured.
Chaos and mayhem prevailed on the road leading from Nilakkal, the gateway to the shrine, 20 km away, to Pamba in the foothills from where the devotees start the arduous 6-km trek to Sabarimala, as activists clashed with police, leaving many injured and bleeding.
Both the Congress, the main opposition party in Kerala, and the BJP, which is desperately seeking to expand its footprint in the state, have lent support to the agitation against the Supreme Court verdict.
An embattled Left Front government reacted sharply to the protests, with the state's religious trusts minister Kadakampally Surendran calling them "politically motivated".