THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 12-hour hartal called by the Opposition parties on Thursday affected normal life in the state. The hartal was staged in protest against the police action on engineering student Jishnu Prannoy’s parents and relatives near the police headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday. Malappuram district was exempted from the stir in view of the by-poll campaign. With KSRTC and private buses as well as taxis and autorickshaws remaining off the road, public life was badly hit.
Hundreds of travellers who reached by trains and flights were stranded at railway stations and airports for hours. The majority of private vehicles also kept off the road. In some places, voluntary organisations offered free travel services at railway stations, bus stands and hospitals. Shop and commercial establishments also remained shut. Only thin attendance was recorded at government offices. Isolated incidents of stone-pelting at vehicles, agitators blocking vehicles and forcibly shutting commercial establishments were also reported from some parts of the state, including Thiruvananthapuram. But no major violence was reported, said the police.
Besides the UDF and the BJP, the BDJS, SDPI, SUCI and Aam Aadmi Party also observed a hartal during the day. A protest march taken out by UDF to the government secretariat resulted in a minor scuffle between the police and activists. The police also used water cannons to disperse SDPI activists who tried to break the barricades. The SUCI staged demonstrations to protest against the arrested of its leaders Shajar Khan, Mini and Sreekumar as well as V.S. Achuthanandan’s former aide K.M. Shajahan.
