600 held in Vellore for protesting against Sterlite, Stalin’s arrest

Over 600 persons courted arrest in different parts of Vellore for staging protests on Thursday against Sterlite Copper smelter unit in Thoothukudi and detention of DMK working president M.K. Stalin by the police in Chennai.

According to the police, over 250 persons were arrested for staging protests in different parts of Vellore district demanding closure of the Sterlite unit and condemning the State and Central governments over the killing of protesters in police firing. They were arrested and released later.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, Mr. Stalin was evicted from the Secretariat premises in Chennai and detained after he staged a dharna outside the Chief Minister's office, demanding a meeting with him on the Thoothukudi police firing issue. Condemning the arrest, over 400 DMK cadre protested in four different places in Vellore. They were detained by the police and later released in the evening.

Meanwhile, around 1,000 policemen will be deployed in Vellore to prevent untoward incidents during the dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the DMK and the other allied parties on Friday. “We will be deploying strike force at important points to prevent law and order problems,” said a police official.