COIMBATORE: DMK cadres took to the streets across the state on Saturday to condemn the arrest of 192 party functionaries, including MLA K S Moorthy and former union minister Gandhi Selvan, for staging black flag protest against governor Banwarilal Purohit in Namakkal on Friday. They also urged the government to release the party cadres, who are lodged at the Salem Central Prison under judicial custody,
at the earliest.
Purohit was in Namakkal to inspect the works related to Swachh Bharat Mission. As many as 224 party cadres, of them 32 women, gathered near the Anna statue on Paramathi Road and waved black flags at the governor, as his convoy passed through the area. Some of them also threw black flags at his car. The police picked up all the DMK cadres and kept them in a marriage hall. While the women cadres were let off in the evening, the men were arrested.
To condemn the arrest, DMK working president M K Stalin and others staged a protest in Chennai on Saturday. As the police arrested them, DMK cadres took to the streets across the rural Coimbatore, forcing the police to detain 500 of them. The city police arrested MLA N Karthick and 109 party cadres for staging a road blockade.
Representative image