Kochi: Activist Trupti Desai has arrived at the International Airport in the early hours of Friday to visit the Sabarimala temple but she could not enter of the domestic terminal following protest by devotees who are opposing the entry of menstrual women into the Lord Ayyappa shrine.

Stress prevailed at the airport as protesters declared that Desai and her colleagues would not be allowed to go out of the airport. They reached here at around 4.40 am from Pune.

The temple opens Friday evening for the third time since the top court ruling on September 28 allowed women of all age group to offer prayers at the Lord Ayyappa temple even though none could do so following hard resistance from devotees and activists, opposing any amend in the years old temple traditions.

Local BJP leaders and the devotees are protesting at the airport. They alleged that Desai and her team came here to violate the centuries-old custom of the temple. Devotees are preventing entry of women and girls in the age group of 10 and 50.

"She (Desai) came here not for darshan but for disturbing a peaceful Sabarimala pilgrim season beginning Saturday," they said.