For the second day on Friday, residents of Sellur in Madurai attempted to stop the opening of TASMAC liquor shops in their locality. However, a large posse of police personnel chased the protesters and detained around 20 of them. Protesters complained that the police used force to chase them away.
A woman protester wondered how the administration had allowed the Tasmac shop in Meenatchipuram to open, as it is very close to a COVID-19 containment zone.
“When the police and other officials are very strict about the timings of grocery shops and vegetable shops citing the coronavirus threat, how are they managing huge crowds every day to allow people to buy liquor,” a woman asked.
She told the policemen that on Thursday, many of the streets in their locality witnessed skirmishes due to drunk people. There were also quarrels among family members.
“Though the poor people in our area were forced to borrow money to feed their family members, there was some peace in the last 43 days of the lockdown, as people were not drunk. But the economic problems in families due to job losses has only been compounded by the drunk people after the opening of Tasmac shops,” she said.
The police said that while 20 men, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) member, Balu, were picked up, the women who squatted on the road, were chased away.
The woman complained that the police used lathis to beat the youth.
The officials and the police say that opening of Tasmac shops is the policy decision of the government and no one should interfere in this issue, the CPI (M) urban district secretary, R. Vijayarajan, said.
Meanwhile, another protest was also reported in Thathaneri under the Sellur police station limits. Some 15 women forced the Tasmac shop to close down. However, after the intervention of the police, the shop was re-opened.