Udupi : The protest organised by  the CPI(M) opposing Made Snana at Kukke Subrahmanya Temple and Pankthi Bedha at Udupi Krishna Mutt, turned violent on December 27, Thursday when the policemen prevented the agitators from entering the Carstreet.

It is learnt, the protestors were prevented from proceeding further near Sanskrit College, resulting in the clash which left several protestors as well as policemen injured. Several of the protestors were arrested an later released.

The padayatra was flagged off in Mangalore on December 24 by the Nidumamidi seer after a protest in front of DC office in Mangalore.

It is learnt the police resorted to lathi charge and tried to prevent the protestors.

Earlier during the protest meeting, CPI(M) working President Srirama Reddy emphasized the need to put an end to practices like Made Snana and Ede Snana which are superstitious. He said the Pejawar seer says all devotees are treated equally and added this was merely for the sake of publicity.
CPI(M) Secretary B Madhava  and several others spoke.

Several senior party leaders like G M Nagaraj, Nityananda Swamy, K N Sriyan, Prasanna Kumar, Varalaxmi, Basavaraj, Maruthi, and Shivaram were detained and later released.