Police deployment was strengthened along the State and national highways in Kozhikode district on September 23, 2022 noticing the recurring incidents of attacks on KSRTC buses and inter-State goods carriers. Search was also intensified for some of the suspected attackers owing allegiance to the Popular Front of India who smashed the windshields of the vehicles in the morning.
It was around 8 a.m. that unidentified protesters resorted to stone pelting in different parts of Kozhikode district. Uninterrupted KSRTC and goods vehicle service challenging the PFI’s hartal call was the main trigger behind the attack. According to police, windshields of two KSRTC buses and a few inter-State trucks were smashed in the incident.
KSRTC officials said one of their drivers who sustained injuries in stone pelting was admitted to Kozhikode Government General Hospital. He was complaining of severe eye pain following the incident. The man was taken to the hospital by a police patrol squad.
Though police carried out a quick search in the Kozhikode civil station area for the attacker, it was proved in vain. Some of the local eyewitnesses said there were no other protesters in the area at the time of the attack in the morning. Three other KSRTC buses also came under the attack of stone throwers in Kozhikode city, Kallayi and Cheruvannur areas.
Noticing the weak presence of police in the rural areas of Kozhikode early in the morning, inter-State and inter-district goods carriers were mostly targeted by the hartal supporters at Koyilandy, Kallayi and Mukkom areas. The windshields of some of the vehicles were destroyed in the incidents. However, no goods drivers sustained serious injuries in the incident.
With the increased presence of police, merchants opened some of their shops in the rural areas of Kozhikode. Meanwhile, the majority of commercial establishments in the city limits remained closed afraid of violence.
