Tamil Nadu bandh LIVE: Condemning Tamil Nadu government’s lack of proper response to the Thoothukudi killings, the DMK and opposition parties have called for a state-wide bandh today.
DMK and other opposition parties in Tamil Nadu have called for a dawn-to-dusk bandh Friday, in protest against police action in Tuticorin this week in which 13 people were killed and several injured.
Protesters in Tuticorin, nearly 600 km from Chennai, had clashed with police protesting the proposed expansion of a copper smelter of Sterlite Copper, a unit of the Vedanta group, over pollution concerns. The Tamil Nadu police resorted to firing as the agitation allegedly turned violent. Yesterday, DMK leader Stalin, who was holding a protest outside Tamil Nadu secretariat, was also detained by the police. Several other leaders were detained too.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palaniswami on Thursday defended the police action. “When someone hits you, you naturally tend to defend yourselves. so on such situations, no one acts in a pre-planned manner,” he wrote on Twitter.
Smoke rises from vehicles set on fire during protests in Tuticorin. (Express Photo)
Highlights
Protests against the Vedanta owned plant - Sterlite Copper - in Tuticorin have been on for several months but on Tuesday police opened fire on protesters after clashes. The DMK and other Opposition parties have called for a dawn-to-dusk bandh today in protest against the police action. 13 people have been killed due to the police firing so far.