Intensifying the protest against the takeover of the many Jacobite churches, the Jacobite faction of the Malankara Church headed by Catholicos Baselios Thomas I and metropolitan trustee Gregorios Joseph has launched a sit-in satyagraha in Kochi and further protests. Protests centered around St. Mary's Church, Piravom and spreading to St. Thomas Church (Marthoma Cheriyapally) in Kothamangalam subject to handing over their churches and properties to the Orthodox faction affiliated with the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church as per the Supreme Court verdict of July 2017.[5]