The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the CPM was total in the city and other parts of Ernakulam district on Thursday. The city wore a deserted look with all offices, shops, business establishments and educational institutions remaining closed from morning till evening.
Unlike other parts of the state, Kochi remained peaceful with no major violence reported. The CPM and DYFI activists took out separate protest rallies.
BOOKED
The police took eight protestors into custody when they attempted to disrupt the functioning of a business firm in Kaloor.
“The city was under police cover and no violence was reported. Policemen were deployed in all parts of the city. Besides, security cover was provided for major establishments and key places like railway station, bus stands and High Court. As a result no major incident was reported in the city. In the morning a few protestors had blocked private vehicles but once the police swung into action, no such incident took place,” police said.
Only minor incidents of violence were reported from Palikkara, Kothamangalam, Aluva and Perumbavoor.
“The district was completely peaceful. Some minor incidents like shops being forcefully closed and glasses of the shops broken after pelting of stones were reported in the Ernkulam rural police limits,” K P Philip, district police chief, Ernakulam rural, said.
LOW ATTENDANCE
All means of public transportation kept off the road resulting in low attendance in government offices. In the collectorate attendance was as low as 12 percentage. Employees of Infopark had to depend on private vehicles and some business firms had deployed taxi cab to transport their employees to offices. But even then attendance was low compared to normal day, an official of the Infopark said.
The passengers who arrived at the railway station remained stranded and had to depend on autorickshaws and taxi cars which charged more than double the normal fare. Many were stranded at the bus stand as well and had to wait till evening for the bus service to resume.
Those who depend on hotels had a tough time as most of the hotels were shut down. Police canteens that were open brought relief to the public.
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