Procession stopped at night; fireworks display in daylight; Thrissur Pooram ruined by police

THRISSUR: During the Thrissur Pooram, the Thiruvambadi section stopped the Night-Pooram after the police overstepped the bounds by barricading the people and chased them away with lathis. A warning was also given that the fireworks will not happen. After a discussion between the minister and the collector, the fireworks display was started after a delay of about four hours. This killed the glow of the fireworks that had cost lakhs. The day-pooram was also delayed by an hour. Devaswom officials said that this is the first time in history that Pooram and fireworks are being disrupted.

The provocation came when the police barricaded the people and stopped the procession in the Naduvilal area during the Madathil Varavu Panchavadyam at 11 pm on Friday night. Naikkanal area too was barricaded. With this, the Panchavadyams dispersed in front of the Vadakkunnatha temple. The elephants and most of the Pooram lovers left. Thiruvampadi Devaswom protested by switching off the lights of the Pooram shed at Naduvilal. The ceremony was completed by the Oranapurath procession.

Last year too, lathis was swung at the crowd during thekkottu irakkam which led to huge protests. During the thekkottu irakkam and kudamattam, there was a huge rush and lathi charge that might have resulted in a disaster.

Commissioner as villain

Naikkanal and Naduvilal locations witnessed lathi-charge by the police as the locals and Pooram lovers raised a ruckus with go-back slogans against the police. Protests were also raised as people were moved from Pooram ground before the night procession of Tiruvambadi Bhagavathy was over. It was also complained that City Police Commissioner Ankit Ashok did not allow many members of the fireworks committee members to stand on the ground. After an argument between the locals and the commissioner, the Devaswom decided not to conduct the firecracker display. In a discussion with minister K Rajan and collector VR Krishna Teja, the Devaswom finally agreed.

LDF candidate VS Sunilkumar and NDA candidate Suresh Gopi reached Thiruvambadi Devaswom. Instead of the scheduled time of 3 AM, Paramekavu's firework display was performed at 7:10 AM and Thiruvambadi's at 7:45 AM.