Tension prevails at Kurishumala, Bonacaud near Palode on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, after the police prevented nearly 2,000 people who were on the journey to the hill.
There were incidents of stone pelting and police reportedly caned the believers.
Some police personnel were injured in the clash between the two groups.
Eighteen people sustained injuries and have been admitted at the Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.
“We can’t allow the believers to the hill since the land is owned by the Forest Department. The situation is still tense and they haven’t dispersed yet,” Palode Circle Inspector Manoj Kumar told TNM.
The devotees have been sitting on the road and top officials including DySP Nedumnagad, Divisional Forest Officer and Tehsildar have reached the spot.
The Forest Department has taken the stand that no cross can be erected on the land since there is a High Court order preventing it and hence believers can’t be allowed to enter the area.
More police personnel have been deployed in the area to prevent escalation of tension.
Bonacaud has been tense ever since a cross erected by the believers was demolished by unidentified persons in August 2017.
The perpetrators who defaced the cross are yet to be identified.
While the police and Forest Department have been claiming that anti-social elements were involved, the devotees haven’t taken their word for it.
The cross was erected on top of the hill about 60 years ago by the Neyyatinkara diocese of the Latin Catholic Church.
Since August, the believers have been insisting that a new cross be installed there.
The Forest Department however has been denying permission for that as the land is owned by the department.
It’s been a practice among the devotees to climb the hill on the first Friday of January every year.
In August also, nearly 1,500 believers who had gathered in the area to offer prayers, were stopped by the police.
The believers’ attempt to install a new cross then, was blocked by a group of people who claimed to be BJP workers.