THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Popular Front of India (PFI) held people of Kerala to ransom during its dawn-to-dusk hartal on Friday, unleashing violence and causing huge damage to public and private property.Stone-pelting PFI workers damaged 71 KSRTC buses across the state, setting the carrier back around `45 lakh. Eleven KSRTC employees suffered injuries.
The police registered 157 cases in connection with the violence. At the time of going to the press, 170 PFI workers had been arrested while 368 were taken into preventive detention. The hartal was called in protest against the arrest of top PFI functionaries following the joint raids by the National Investigation Agency and Enforcement Directorate in 15 states on Thursday.
Kannur was among the worst-hit districts during the hartal with petrol bombs hurled at two locations. PFI miscreants also pelted stones at a KSRTC-Swift bus heading to Kollur Mookambika near Valapattanam, injuring two passengers, including a minor girl.
In Thiruvananthapuram, six KSRTC buses were damaged. At Pallimukku in Kollam, two police officers suffered injuries after their two-wheeler was rammed by another bike ridden by hartal supporters.
At Erattupetta in Kottayam, PFI workers clashed with the police on the streets after blocking traffic. The police caned the protesters and later booked 87 of them.
Stones were also hurled at five KSRTC buses at Valanjavazhi near Ambalappuzha in Alappuzha.In Kochi, a restaurant at Parambayam near Aluva was vandalised by helmet-clad men. A TV journalist was heckled at Ernakulam North by PFI workers while covering their protest march to High Court junction. Two PFI men were taken into custody following this.
In Kozhikode too, private vehicles and KSRTC buses came under attack. A container lorry carrying fish was attacked at Thikkodi, while stones were hurled at a hotel in Nadakkavu. Seven lorries, an autorickshaw and a car were damaged within the Kozhikode rural limits.
BOMB HURLED AT RSS OFFICE
Two men on a bike hurled a petrol bomb at the RSS office in Mattannur, Kannur, around 11.30am. The windowpanes of the office were shattered and a bed kept inside caught fire. Two people have been arrested. A petrol bomb was also hurled at a delivery vehicle in Narayanpara. At Kallyasserry, a PFI worker was arrested with a petrol bomb.
HC declares hartal illegal
Kochi: Expressing displeasure at the violence in the state on Friday, the Kerala HC observed that the hartal called by PFI amounted to contempt of court. It directed the state to file a report on the action taken against the illegal hartal and the loss it caused.