Thiruvananthapuram: Several activists of the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) were arrested or booked for protesting without permission in different parts of Kerala after the organisation was declared as illegal by the Central government.
Two PFI activists were arrested from the Kallambalam area of the state capital on Thursday for shouting slogans in support of the outfit a day ago underneath a flagpole before unfurling their flag, police said.
Besides the two, there are five others who were present there and whom the police are searching for, a senior police officer said.
In Nedumkandam area of Idukki district, seven PFI activists had carried out a march on Wednesday shouting slogans in support of the outfit and against RSS and a case was registered against them today for carrying out a procession without the requisite permission, police said.
No one has been arrested in that case as visuals of the incident are being perused to identify the PFI activists, police said.
Police also said 152 people were arrested from across the state today in connection with the hartal-related violence on September 23 and 352 cases have been booked till date.
The Central government had banned PFI on September 27 and on the very next day, a leader of its Kerala unit had made a statement that the outfit has been disbanded.
Hours after making the statement, Abdul Sathar, who had called the hartal when he was state general secretary of the outfit and allegedly absconded thereafter, was arrested from Kollam on Wednesday and handed over to the NIA.
Multi-agency teams, spearheaded by NIA, had last week carried out raids at 93 locations in 15 state across the country and arrested over 100 PFI leaders for allegedly supporting terror activities in the country.
The September 23 hartal was called in protest against the same.
Kerala, where the PFI has some strong pockets, had accounted for the maximum number of 22 arrests in the NIA action last week.
This post was last modified on September 29, 2022 10:54 pm