Minor protest breaks out at Sabarimala

A minor protest broke out at the Sabarimala Temple late Monday night after 20 pilgrims were asked to move out of the shrine's 'vavarunada' area, a high sensitive zone, police said.

However, the protesters were soon pacified by the police and taken to Nadapanthal area, a covered pathway in front of the temple, Superintendent of Police (special officer) Pratheesh Kumar said.

On the third day of the two-month-long pilgrimage season, the devotees started agitating when they were asked to move out of 'vavarunada' due to the imposition of section 144 that prohibits assembly of more than four people at a spot, he said.

The devotees stopped their protest but complained that the newly allotted place was not clean.

Earlier in the day, 69 people, who had protested in the high security zone at the shrine Sunday night, were remanded in 14 days of judicial custody.

Activists of the BJP, Yuva Morcha and other right-wing outfits also stepped up protests across Kerala against the late night police crackdown at the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple complex and the subsequent detention of 69 people.