Hundreds of cadre from a majority of the opposition parties, particularly the DMK, Congress and the Communist parties, took part in protests across the district on Monday to oppose the recent bus fare increase in the State.
According to police sources, the protests took place in more than 40 places in rural and urban areas and about 2,500 cadre were detained by the police and released later in the evening.
In the protest led by DMK near Periyar bus stand in the morning, the party workers blocked the road for nearly 30 minutes, following which the police evicted them from the place.
Condemning the State government for the sharp increase in bus fare, the cadre said the subsequent reduction on Sunday was negligible. They demanded that the government must revoke the fare revision in total.
Police sources said that mild lathi charge was employed on protestors near Alagarkoil.
Students from a nearby institution had joined the protest and one of them attempted to climb a mobile tower, they said.
A group of students led by members of Students Federation of India (SFI) staged a demonstration near Thiagarajar College in the morning. Police sources said that 17 of them - a functionary of SFI and 16 students - would be produced before a judicial magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.
