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Hartal total in Malappuram

MALAPPURAM: A dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the Indian Union Muslim League to protest against the alleged neglect of the Calicut International Airport at Karipur was total and largely incident-free in the district.

Vehicles, except two-wheelers, kept off the roads and shops and business establishments remained closed throughout the day. IUML activists were seen blocking roads at many places. For the IUML, the success of hartal in Malappuram was a matter of prestige. It was the first hartal called by the party in recent years, and the party workers were out in the streets in large numbers to see to it that no one violated the hartal. They took out processions at regular intervals thanking people for cooperating with their call. Despite the free roads, a large traffic block was formed at Kondotty as hartal-supporters blocked the vehicles proceeding to the airport. Airline crew proceeding to the airport were also caught in the block.

However, no major flight delay was reported from Karipur. The police made preventive arrests of IUML activists at several places. Five youths were rounded up at Angadipuram for blocking the roads. They were released in the evening.

IUML State general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty claimed that the hartal was ‘a huge success.’ He said the police tried to defeat the hartal but the cooperation of the people made it total and violence-free.

However, sporadic incidents of skirmishes between the hartal-supporters and activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) were reported from Tirur and Tanur. A CPI(M) activist was attacked by hartal-supporters at Tirur Municipal Library. The police registered a case against a few IUML activists.

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