PFI hartal: Protests turns violent in parts of Kerala; vehicles, shops damaged

Office bearers, members and cadres of the Popular Front of India (PFI) along with others were involved in radicalizing and recruiting Muslim youth to join proscribed organisations like ISIS, the Nationa Investigation Agency (NIA) revealed while seeking remand of the accused arrested a day ago in its first-ever mega operation against the outfit.

Kerala High Court initiated suo motu case against the leaders of Popular Front of India (PFI) for calling a one-day statewide bandh in Kerala. As per a Kerala HC order, nobody can call for a bandh in the state without permission. Kerala High Court said the police should ensure that adequate measures are put in place to prevent any damage/destruction to public/private property of Government and citizens who do not support the call for strike. 

A bottle filled with inflammable substance were hurled at the BJP office in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore on Thursday night triggering tension in the area.

Two police personnel were attacked by two bike-borne PFI supporters in Pallimukku of Kollam district during Kerala bandh over NIA raids, say police.

A day after PFI leaders were arrested in a massive country-wide raid, the outfit's dawn-to dusk hartal began on Friday and incidents of stone pelting and attack on vehicles including KSRTC buses by protesters were reported from various places in the state.

Stones were pelted at Kerala State Road Transport Corporation buses (KSRTC) in various districts including Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kozhikode, Wayanad, and Alappuzha. 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. In Alappuzha, KSRTC buses, a tanker lorry and some other vehicles got damaged in the stone pelting allegedly by those supporting the hartal call. A 15-year-old girl and an auto-rickshaw driver suffered minor injuries in the stone pelting allegedly by PFI activists in Kozhikode and Kannur respectively.

Multi-agency teams spearheaded by the NIA had arrested 106 functionaries of the PFI on Thursday in near simultaneous raids at 93 locations in 15 states for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country. Kerala, where PFI has some strong pockets accounted for the maximum number of 22 arrests, officials said. PFI state president C P Mohammed Basheer, national chairman O M A Salam, national secretary Nasaruddin Elamaram, former chairman E Abubacker and others were among those arrested.

PFI on Thursday had said a hartal will be observed in the state on September 23 "against the RSS-controlled fascist government's attempt to silence dissenting voices using the central agencies." The hartal would be held from 6 AM to 6 PM, A Abdul Sathar, state general secretary, PFI, had said in the statement.

The state-run KSRTC has informed that it will operate as usual. The transport corproation said special services to hospitals, airports and railway stations will be arranged if necessary and will also seek police protection, if needed.

Kerala police have beefed up security in the state and issued directions to the district police chiefs to ensure law and order after the radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) called for a state-wide hartal on Friday.