Shimla, Dec 1 (IANS): Shops and commercial establishments were closed in Himachal Pradesh's major towns Thursday as workers of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) as well as traders protested the decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail.

However, there was no report of traffic being held up due to the strike. There was also no report of violence anywhere, an official at the police headquarters here said.

Over 6,000 shopkeepers in Shimla kept their shops closed.

"We have decided to keep the shops closed for one day to express solidarity," Shimla Beopar Mandal president Ramesh Sood told IANS.

He, however, said shops dealing with daily necessary items like medicines and eatables would be exempted from the shutdown.

Tikender Panwar, a state CPI-M leader, said: "The party opposed the decision as it would destroy the livelihood of small retailers and lead to monopolisation of the retail sector by multinational companies."