Incidents of stone-pelting and forceful shuttering of shops by Popular Front of India (PFI) were reported from across Kerala on Friday.
The PFI on Friday held a dawn-to-dusk 'hartal' in protest of the National Investigation Agency (NIA)-led crackdown and subsequent arrests of its activists and leaders on Thursday.
The NIA, Enforcement Directorate (ED), and state police forces raided PFI establishments in 11 states and Union territories on Thursday and arrested 106 activists and leaders. The arrested persons are charged with offences such as terror funding, holding terror camps, radicalising people, and waging war against India.
PFI's stone-pelting at vehicles, attacks on commuters, shops
Stones were pelted at Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses in various districts including Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kozhikode, Wayanad, and Alappuzha. Sevaral buses were largely destroyed as its glasses were broken and seats were damaged.
In Alappuzha, KSRTC buses, a tanker lorry, and some other vehicles got damaged in the stone-pelting allegedly by those supporting the hartal call.
In Kozhikode, a 15-year-old girl suffered minor injuries.
In Kannur, an auto-rickshaw driver suffered minor injuries in the stone pelting allegedly by PFI activists. Local media reported that a petrol bomb was hurled at a vehicle which was carrying newspapers for distribution at Narayanpara in Kannur in the morning.
PFI workers were also beaten up by shopkeepers in Kannur. The PFI workers were trying to shut shops by force.
In Sankranthi Kavala in Kottayam, a lottery shop kept open was destroyed by the hartal supporters while some freight lorries, which were on on its way from Mangaluru, were stopped and its keys were snatched away by them on a national highway in Kannur which caused blocked traffic in the area.
Kerala government braced for PFI hartal
As soon as the PFI called for a hartal on Thursday, Kerala police chief had given directions to beef up security across Kerala and to take stern action against those who violate the law.
But, there were complaints that police did not act swiftly in many places when hartal supporters tried to block vehicles and forcefully shut down the shops on Friday.
Though a large number of hartal supporters, who indulged in violence and criminal activities, were taken into custody across the state, no exact figure was available at the moment, sources said.
