The country’s tech capital witnessed large-scale vandalism on Wednesday as hundreds of pro-Kannada activists ran amok pulling down non-Kannada signage at commercial establishments in several parts of Bangalore.

The agitation was to press for the implementation of an existing rule that mandates a 60:40 rule for all signboards in Karnataka, where Kannada should occupy 60 per cent of the space.

Activists of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Narayana Gowda faction), an influential organisation, marched from the Sadahalli toll gate near the Kempegowda International Airport, leading to traffic snarls. Several small groups of KRV activists marched to busy commercial areas in Rajajinagar, MG Road, Brigade Road and Lavelle Road and vandalised signboards, a huge majority of them in English.

The signages were either blackened with paint or smashed using sticks, while those placed at higher altitude were targeted with stones, as helpless merchants stayed indoors.

The Mall of Asia, one of the largest in the country, remained shut and barricaded due to the protest, as a large number of policemen kept a close vigil to prevent the protesters from entering the facility.

The activists, wearing their trademark red and yellow stoles, turned their ire against every single signboard where Kannada is not given primacy. They used sticks and bare hands to pull down or shatter signboards into smithereens and tear banners and flex hoardings at shopping malls, bus shelters and large outdoor advertisement displays.

T.A. Narayana Gowda, president of the KRV who led the protest, warned that whoever wants to live and eke out their livelihood in Karnataka must learn Kannada.

“Only those who respect and follow Kannada have the right to live here. There could be Marwaris, Sindhis, Gujaratis or others from the Hindi states (doing business here). We are not asking you to stop doing business here. But our language is Kannada. So you have to become one among us and live as Kannadigas,” he told reporters before being taken into preventive custody along with dozens of his followers.

He threatened to attack the Mall of Asia. “You are under police protection today. But will the police protect you every day? Our KRV workers can attack the mall at any time,” Gowda said in a brazen call for violence.

He warned chief minister Siddaramaiah that he would be taught a lesson. “I am warning Siddaramaiah that we will not sit quiet if you deploy the police against us. We will have to teach you a lesson. We will protest peacefully since this is a public movement.”

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had on December 24 issued instructions to comply with the Kannada signage rules by February 28 or risk cancellation of commercial licences.