BANGALORE: Reacting strongly to Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunandihi’s remarks during an inauguration of a flyover in Chennai, Kannada activists in Bangalore forcibly stopped the screening of Tamil films in theaters in the city.

Minor incidents of violence and damage are also reported in Bangalore and the police have intensified security in the city.

The activists have also threatened the stoppage of telecasts of Tamil programmes and channels in the state.

Indiantelevision.com spoke to a few Bangalore multi-system operators (MSOs) and representatives of cable TV operators in the city who hadn't decided whether they should go ahead and black out the Tamil channels.

Said an MSO, "We support the people of Karnataka and do take into account the sensibilities of people in the state. But the cable industry in the state is fighting for its survival. We are losing a lot of customers to DTH who are offering subscription rates at throwaway prices. We will extend whatever support that we feasibly can."

During his speech, Karunanidhi had warned Karnataka against putting hurdles in the Hogenakkal water project and said that his patience was running out.

The Kannada activists have accused the Tamil Nadu government of lobbying with the center to implement the controversial project, though the matter is under dispute. The Kannada activists have also accused the UPA government at the center of repeatedly ignoring the interests of Karnataka state.

Kannada activists such as the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) and Kannada Chaluvali are some of groups that want Karunanidhi to withdraw his remarks, failing which cable operators across the state will be asked to stop beaming Tamil channels and public transport buses from Tamil Nadu will not be allowed to ply in the state.

The representatives of the cable TV operators who are in talks with the activists, said that they would probably know the situation better tomorrow. Will they stop the signals? "How can we cable operators survive without providing complete services over a long period to a major section of our subscribers? 28 per cent of Bangalore's population is Tamil,” says a cable operator.

Theaters have stopped screening Tamil films in Bangalore as of yesterday on account of hundreds of pro-Kannada activists storming theaters and evacuating the viewers.

Some of the effected theaters are Nataraj, Balaji, Sharada, Vinayaka, Ajantha, Poornima, Lavayna, Aruna and Super. The problem for theater owners seems so far to be limited to Bangalore.

Indiantelevision.com spoke to some theater owners in North Karnataka who said that they were unaffected by the current situation since not too many Tamil films were screened there.