Authorities on Thursday issued prohibitory orders in parts of Palakkad and Kasargod districts of Kerala after violence that followed the entry of two women of menstruating age into the Sabarimala temple, PTI reported. The orders prohibit the gathering of more than four people in an area. However, stray incidents of violence have continued in the state on Friday.
The curfew was imposed in Palakkad town till 6 pm and in Manjeswaram taluk of Kasargod district till 11 pm on Friday. Curfew has also been imposed in the Nedumangad and Valiyamala police station limits of Thiruvananthapuram for three days, according to ANI.
Palakkad District Collector D Balamurali and Kasargod District Collector D Sajith Babu issued the prohibitory orders after receiving reports from several officials about the situation in areas under their jurisdiction. “We have called for an all-party meeting at 4 pm,” Balamurali told PTI. “ Further decisions will be taken after that meeting.”
At least 1,369 people were arrested and 717 were taken into preventive custody after Thursday’s violence. Police have filed 801 cases in connection with the violence. TK Vinodkumar, the chief of the police intelligence wing, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will remain under Z-plus security but some added precautions were being taken, Manorama reported.
On Friday, protestors hurled crude bombs and stones in various places, PTI reported. Such incidents were reported in Kozhikode, Pathanamthitta and Kannur. Miscreants set a local Bharatiya Janata Party office on fire in Kannur, police said. Houses of several activists of the BJP and Communist Party of India (Marxist) were attacked in these areas as well as in Thiruvananthapuram.
The shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sabarimala Action Council, an umbrella group of Hindu organisations, disrupted normal life in the state. Two police stations were attacked, 31 police personnel injured and 100 buses damaged on Wednesday and Thursday. Police had used batons and water cannons on protestors on Thursday.
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