KOZHIKODE/KOTTAYAM: Violence over the implementation of the Kasturirangan committee recommendations on Western Ghats continued in parts of Kerala on Saturday with miscreants torching a bar hotel in Kozhikode’s Thamarassery. A gang that barged into the bar hotel, smashed furniture and set the building on fire, police said.

One employee of the bar who suffered burns has been admitted to the hospital. The others present managed to escape. Fire and rescue service personnel, who rushed to the spot, doused the fire.

In Idukki district, five people were arrested in connection with violence during the 12-hour hartal called by the LDF district unit. Cases have been registered against 50 identifiable persons who allegedly ransacked the electricity and post offices and prevented police from discharging their duties in Kattappana town.

Munnar was exempted from the hartal in view of a festival at Subramaniam Swamy temple there. The attendance in government offices was thin.

Sabarimala pilgrims from Tamil Nadu were stopped by the Tamil Nadu police in Theni in view of the violence. They were allowed to proceed after ensuring that the situation was peaceful. There was a huge turnout of pilgrims at the transit point at Kumily.

The bar hotel at Thamarassery has been in the thick of a controversy for around five years. Kerala Madhya Nirodhana Samithi has been staging a dharna in front of the bar demanding its closure. Soon after the incident, police dismantled the shamiana erected by the protesters in front of the hotel.

Twelve people were arrested from Kodancheri and Pudupady in Kozhikode in connection with Friday's violence. They were produced before the magistrate and remanded in judicial custody. Police didn’t go for widespread action against the culprits on Saturday in the wake of the chief minister's mass contact programme at Kozhikode.

Cases have been registered against more than 1,500 people for indulging in violence. Many of those who led the agitation are learned to have gone into hiding. The Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samithi, an association of shop owners, took out a procession in Thamarassery to protest the attack on shops.

Stray incidents of violence were reported from Wayanad district too. The forest department station was torched at Kattikkulam near Mananthawady in the evening. Stones were pelted at some forest offices in the district.