Violence unleashed during hartal, police remain mute spectators, ambulance attacked, KSRTC buses damaged, many injured

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the police say that heavy security has been arranged to deal with today's hartal called by the Popular Front, the miscreants are unleashing violence all over the state. The hartal became an opportunity for them to unleash violence and cause hardships to stranded people who were trying to make use of the available transport to reach their destinations.

KSRTC was attacked the most. The miscreants damaged nearly 30 buses in the state. Many including the employees were injured. Stones were thrown at vehicles in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Palakkad, Kannur and Kottayam. The state saw the shameless sight of police remaining mute spectators while the violence was taking place. Even an ambulance carrying a patient was attacked in Thrissur. KSRTC is on the move to suspend services as the violence is rampant.

In Thiruvananthapuram, stones were pelted at a KSRTC bus in East Fort damaging the windscreens. The hartal supporters blocked vehicles in Kattakkada. The passengers said that when they sought help from the police to travel, they just smiled and stood helpless. Driver P Rajendran of Pandalam-Peruman service sustained eye injuries. He has been admitted to the hospital. Stones were pelted at buses in Aluva and Alappuzha. Another driver was admitted to the hospital with an eye injury caused by pelting stones near the Kozhikode Civil Station. Stones were pelted at KSRTC bus at Koliyakod near Venjaramood in Thiruvananthapuram. Stones were pelted by a bike borne team at 10.30 am.

Along with KSRTC buses, private vehicles and establishments were attacked widely. A petrol bomb was hurled at a vehicle carrying newspapers in Kannur. A vehicle of a channel that came to report the hartal in Kozhikode was also attacked. A bike borne team unleashed the violence. Stones were pelted at private vehicles at Kumarichantha in Thiruvananthapuram. The windows of the car going to the airport and an auto with passengers were attacked.

The protestors came with deadly weapons to close shops and block vehicles. The shop opened near Pothancode was closed by a team of 15. The items in the shop were destroyed. A masked man on a bike threw stones at a hotel at Parampayam in Nedumbassery. A person who was eating was injured in the stone pelting. A lottery shop was vandalized at Samkranti in Kottayam. Stones were pelted at a tourist bus returning from a study tour with students in Alappuzha. Two people on a bike pelted stones. A lorry driver was seriously injured in stone pelting at Pushpa Junction in Kozhikode. Jinu Habibullah, a native of Varkala in Thiruvananthapuram was the injured.

Popular Front activists tried to oppose the police in Erattupetta and Kollam. In Erattupetta, the police resorted to lathi-charge Propular Front workers who stopped the vehicles passing through the town. About 100 people were detained. There was also an attempt to release them from custody. More police are camping in the place.

Two policemen were attacked by a bike borne team at Pallimukku in Kollam. The attack was for stopping them from abusing the passengers. Meanwhile, a Popular Front worker who arrived in Kannur with a petrol bomb was taken into custody by the police. The others who accompanied him fled from the place.